>>89502
Yea, the guy doesn't really seem to have NASA's interests at heart; being friends with a billionaire who makes money from filling in where NASA are lacking (e.g. ISS expeditions), while also leeching R&D from them (from what I heard, haven't read anything in-depth about it though) doesn't help.
>>89505
>Polls aren't real
They are if they are conducted in good faith and in an unbiased, thorough, manner. Referendums are another sure way of getting the population's opinions on things; works fur Switzerland anyway, they have those all the time. Again, as long as fraud is kept to a minimum.
It does make sense to have one's faith in them undermined by all the fiestas that have transpired in the past decade, but still, it's possible.
>The direct impact of party propaganda on public opinion regarding the third reich has been overstated a lot by revisionists,
To an extent, yes, though keeping the population in line once the party rose into power isn't what I've been thinking of. Leading up to that folks like Goebbels did a lot of heavy lifting to bring attention to the party, creating drama, twisting news to fit the narrative, exploiting public's frustrations and so on. And then there were those speeches, well-articulated and passionate, convincing. Few politicians can deliver anything close to it today. Everything they say these days feels so insincere and inept.
>NASA's fate as an agency now depends solely on how the President feels about it at any given moment,
Sadly. In its current state it is languishing, though their unmanned probe programs have all been solid. Hopefully the Chinese step up and a future president decides to race them. Without a race fur reputation there isn't much of a reason to increase spending.