I’m sure there are legitimate reasons to want to come up with a way to protect our satellites and other space-borne entities, but this isn’t the way to do it.

Vice President Mike Pence promoted a proposed Space Command on Thursday as “an idea whose time has come” in comments at the Pentagon to unveil a few more details about President Trump’s plan to create another military force, this one for outer space, and for it to be in operation by 2020.

Mr. Trump’s space dreams still have to go through a divided Congress to come true, but initially reluctant Pentagon officials have lined up behind the proposal and now say that they will do what they can to bring it to fruition.

“The time has come to write the next great chapter in the history of our armed forces, to prepare for the next battlefield where America’s best and bravest will be called to deter and defeat a new generation of threats to our people, to our nation,” Mr. Pence told an audience at the Pentagon. He called for Congress to allocate an additional $8 billion for space security systems over the next five years.

Mr. Trump, for his part, posted on Twitter on Thursday: “Space Force all the way!”

And capping it off with a GOP fund-raising appeal by voting on the logo just makes it even sillier.

Aside from the fact that Congress would have to vote on it and that weaponizing outer space would violate a number of treaties that the U.S. has signed (not that that would stop Trump), it would be a lot easier and more efficient if they just let NASA and the United States Air Force do their job rather than start up a whole new branch of the military-industrial complex.

I’m pretty sure that this is just another “Oh, look at the kitty!” moment for Trump and his team.  The Mueller investigation is getting intense for them, Paul Manafort is in the dock, Democrats are building up for a blue wave in November, and congressmen and cabinet members are finding out that grifting has its downsides.  No wonder launching ourselves into outer space to take on the Romulans is sounding like a nice diversion.

But I don’t think this is what Sir Patrick Stewart had in mind when he signed up for a reboot of his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

“Please don’t make it so.”