'Ted, please leave me alone': Trump drops surprise Cruz joke during NASA speech

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump joked with Senator Ted Cruz about lobbying over the location of a newly announced US Space Academy during a NASA speech on Friday, August 28.

Trump acknowledged that Cruz and other Texas officials were pushing for the academy, which he said would train service members, engineers, and civilian operators.

The exchange came at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, where Trump announced plans to sign an executive order beginning the process of creating the academy.

Trump jokes about Ted Cruz's space academy push

Trump said the new academy would be modeled on the nation’s military service academies and serve the Space Force, NASA, and the civilian spaceflight industry.

As he discussed choosing a location, Trump pointed to people in the audience who wanted the school in their area. 

He then singled out Cruz and Rep Brian Babin, both Texas Republicans, before turning the moment into a joke.

“Tell you, Ted Cruz and Brian, you guys are-they're working too,” Trump said. “I have to tell you, just leave me alone, Ted, please leave me alone.”

Trump did not identify a preferred location during the speech. Instead, he said he would choose one “very shortly” and suggested the audience was already lobbying him.

“I know where some people want it that are in this audience,” Trump said. “Some people come down at this one guy over there. He's lobbying me.”

President Trump compares academy with service schools

The comments came after Trump described the academy as a major new institution for an expanding space program. 

He compared it with West Point, Annapolis, the Air Force Academy, and the Coast Guard Academy, saying the new school should be comparable to them in selectivity and quality.

“It’s got to be the equivalent of the others, which are great,” Trump said. He also said the academy should have high-quality architecture, calling for a building that would be “beautiful” and “the top.”

Trump said the academy would serve both military and civilian space interests as the United States expands its ambitions beyond the moon.

He said it would “attract, train, and graduate the very best of our nation.”

Trump announces executive order for academy

The announcement came during a speech honoring the Artemis II crew with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

Trump praised the astronauts and NASA workers before shifting to the broader future of the space program.

He said the academy was needed because of the growth of the Space Force, commercial space industry, and plans for lunar and Mars missions.

“That’s why, in a few moments, I will sign an executive order to begin the process of creating a new national academy, it’s called the US Space Academy,” Trump said.

Trump also said the academy’s location had become a point of interest among those in the room, giving Cruz and Babin a brief role in the announcement. 

Cruz was among the officials Trump thanked during the speech, calling him “a good man” and saying he had supported the space effort.

Trump’s remarks on the academy came alongside broader claims about his administration’s space ambitions.

He said the United States had moved from what he described as a period of decline into a “golden age” of space exploration.

He also said NASA had begun work on a nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft that he said would launch in 2028 for a Mars mission.