There are days when politics looks up. But right at the top. Towards UFOs. And when it happens, it always happens with a certain theatricality. Donald Trump announced that he has asked the Pentagon to publish all classified documents on unidentified flying objects, UAPs and extraterrestrial life. He wrote this in Truth last February 19, 2026:
Based on the overwhelming interest demonstrated, I will direct the Secretary of War and other relevant Departments and Agencies to begin the process of identifying and publishing government files relating to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any other information related to these extremely complex, but also incredibly interesting and important matters.
God bless America!
Suddenly there is “enormous interest” in aliens. An interest so great that it mobilized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and opened the Government’s drawers. The sky becomes the protagonist again. And when the sky occupies the scene, everything else seems smaller.
Obama’s words
Everything lights up after an interview that goes viral in a few hours. Barack Obama, guest on Brian Tyler’s podcast, calmly answers the question about aliens:
They’re real, but I’ve never seen one. And they are not held in Area 51.
A sentence like this is enough to set the global imagination in motion again. Area 51, deserts, armored hangars, secret folders. America knows how to build myths better than anyone. Trump accuses Obama of having released confidential information, talking about declassification and opening up the possibility of making the dossiers public. The word UFO bounces everywhere.
Agenda setting, cosmic distractions and politics with their noses in the air
The announcement comes as other very earthly issues swirl around Trump. The controversies related to the Epstein Files remain on the table. Tensions over the management of ICE continue to be discussed. In these same days, in fact, in the United States, another story is taking shape. The Guardian tells of a memo from the Department of Homeland Security that authorizes ICE to arrest and detain even people already legally admitted as refugees, keeping them in detention for the duration of a process to review their status.
Then comes space. And, as we know, space is always bigger than everything. In the 1970s, Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw explained something simple with the agenda setting theory: the media directs the collective gaze. One theme takes center stage and the others slide into the background. The light moves and we follow it.
In political science we also talk about “diversionary politics”, a concept studied among others by Jack S. Levy. In moments of internal pressure, leaders emphasize issues with high emotional impact. The mechanism is known and aliens, as we know, have an extraordinary emotional impact. They always work.
There is something almost poetic about all this. When reality gets heavy, space offers a narrative escape. UFOs combine mystery, fear, curiosity and a certain desire to believe that there is more out there. Politics knows it and communication knows it even better. Meanwhile, the Pentagon will have to decide what to really make public. The idea of a definitive dossier on aliens fires the imagination. Someone points elsewhere. And we, punctually, look.
You might also be interested in:
