Trump’s Science Director Says US Can “Manipulate Time And Space”, Prompting Wild Conspiracy Theories

Kratsios was attending the “Endless Frontiers” retreat, an event “focused on rebuilding the foundations of American strength at a time of geopolitical and technological upheaval”, when he made the remarks. The speech was largely focused on celebrating past achievements of American science, and lamenting subsequent stagnation.

“As the nation approached its bicentennial, Americans looked forward to electricity too cheap to meter. By the end of 1972, 30 nuclear plants were operational, 55 were under construction, and more than 80 were planned or ordered. That same year, the Apollo 17 astronauts became the 11th and 12th men to walk on the Moon. Five years before, the X-15 rocket plane had set a speed record for a crewed aircraft of Mach 6.7. America was flying higher, faster, and farther than ever before,” Kratsios said in the speech.

“Today, however, energy prices still burden producers and consumers alike, and the grid remains precarious. Over the past 30 years only three commercial nuclear reactors have been built and 10 have been closed. Despite spending almost twice as much on healthcare as peer nations, we have the lowest life expectancy. Apollo 17’s steps on the lunar surface have proved mankind’s last. The X-15’s record still stands, and the Concorde was decommissioned more than two decades ago. Our passenger planes are slower than they used to be. Our trains crawl compared to those in other parts of the world. Our cars do not fly.”

It was pretty standard fare, from a representative of the administration cutting and attacking scientific organizations. But then the science advisor – who holds a Bachelor of Arts in politics rather than a science degree – made the remark that alighted conspiracy theories on Reddit and elsewhere it was posted.

“We seem to have lost focus and vision, to have lowered our sights and let systems and structures and bureaucracies muddle us along,” Kratsios said. 

“But we are capable of so much more. Our technologies permit us to manipulate time and space. They leave distance annihilated, cause things to grow, and improve productivity.”

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Conspiracy theorists on Reddit and X took this as disclosure that the US was hiding technologies that could indeed manipulate time and space.

“It is true, and has been true since the days of the Philadelphia Experiment (1940ies), which itself is only a rediscovery of more ancient knowledge and tech,” one commenter said. “But, it is weird to hear him blurt it out. Sometimes the breakaway civilisation likes to share the truth with the public as they think it absolves them from the karma of withholding the truth from the public ie., they can point at these examples and say… we told the public, it’s not our fault they didn’t believe us.”

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While that would be the fun option, it’s pretty clear that that’s not what Kratsios was talking about. We do not have technologies that can manipulate space and time, unless you mean in the Einsteinian sense of “faster objects experience time slower”. Which is cool and useful for anyone who likes GPS, but not exactly what you’d dub “manipulating time” or space.

In short, Kratsios was likely just speaking metaphorically, in the sense that e.g. Internet communication can shorten distances between different sides of the planet. He was not disclosing any secret advanced technology that can manipulate time and space. But maybe this is the sort of response your words will get when you are part of an administration that promised conspiracy theorists more disclosures on UFOs, and actively encourages conspiracy theories elsewhere.