So, Obama stated in an interview that "aliens are real."

[Laffy Kat]

Umm, I have questions!



https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8dvpZXv30jY

[Intractable]

1. Of course they are real.

The universe is too big to statistically not have them, and ironically, too big for us to find them.

[Laffy Kat]

8. But he sounded like he saw proof.

We can all suppose they are real. It's a safe bet, yet still just a presumption.

[malaise]

22. He did not

I watched the entire interview - and more than once.

[Eko]

33. If you take into account the age of the universe

Them being alive while we are is statistically quite small.

[markodochartaigh]

2. I think that to believe that

the Earth is the only planet inhabited by intelligent life one must have a religious belief for doing so.

[lostnfound]

15. At this point, believing that earth is inhabited by intelligent life also depends on religious belief.

[markodochartaigh]

17. "Beam me up Scottie,

The dominant life form is at the point of destroying their biosphere. No point in making First Contact!"

[BannonsLiver]

28. Plenty of people do believe we are alone including many on this forum.

Doesn’t make a lick of sense to me given the incomprehensible vastness of the universe but they believe it. Bless their hearts.

[ProfessorGAC]

30. I've Never Seen That

Naturally, I could have just missed it.
I tend to believe that intelligent life exists in many other places. I just don't believe they've been to Earth.
With technology advanced enough for manned interstellar flight, why could they just do a detailed scan of all frequencies and magnetics from 30 or 40 million miles out.
And, aby transmissions would only be 3 or 4 minutes old, so they'd know what was going on.
They'd be invisible to us even as they anthropological & geologic studies.
The idea that they have to enter the atmosphere seems silly to me.
But, I definitely doubt we are alone in the universe.

[Deuxcents]

3. If there are life forms out there, they're probably smarter than us and know not to visit. We'd probably shoot them

[johnp3907]

7. She never should've said " Klaatu barada nikto."

Should’ve just just let Gort wipe us all out.

[electric_blue68]

11. Uh, no.

[Bluetus]

9. Think of a pyramid

We know how life was able to evolve on earth. There is no reason to believe that with billions of planets with essentially the same conditions as earth has had for billions of years, that there wouldn't be life forms. Certainly the simplest life forms (single cell) must exist in millions or billions of places. But moving up that pyramid, you need lots of things to break your way to evolve to higher forms. You need a sun that provides steady energy, not a sun that is in a giant or dwarf phase. You need an atmosphere. Mars once had much more of an atmosphere than it has today. You need a stable, mostly circular orbit to avoid temperature extremes, and an absence of cataclysmic events.

You probably need a molten core, as our earliest life probably sprung from vents in the oceans. And so on. Simple life forms will be very common, IMHO, but higher life forms require good luck. At the rate that we are destroying our planet, we will not evolve to a much higher life form. But among the bullions of solar systems, it is almost certain that there will be many places where life has surpassed our level.

The problem is travel. At this point, we have no way to travel faster than the speed of light, and not even any interesting theories about that. So for now, we can pretty much rule out the whole Star Trek/Star Wars transportation mode. If we could travel at the speed of light (we can't), it would take us over 4 years to take a one-way trip to Proxima Centauri, which is the closest star to us. If we wanted to leave the Milky Way and go to another galaxy, the closest one would take us over 2 million years if we traveled at the speed of light.

But in Einstein's space/time theories, there is at least the possibility of distortions (wormholes) that could allow one to take shortcuts to distant places. Maybe that is possible, and maybe a race of critters much smarter than us has figured it out. But from where I sit, that is science fiction with no real basis in science. But who knows? A master race may have answers that we can't possibly envision. If we have been visited by intergalactic space aliens, they certainly seem to have been both mysterious and clumsy about it.

[BigmanPigman]

4. The majority believes there are real.

"Approximately 50% to 65% of Americans believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life in the universe. While nearly two-thirds believe in general life elsewhere, a smaller, yet growing, percentage (roughly 30%-34%) specifically believes that UFOs are alien spacecraft. Belief is generally higher among men and younger individuals."

[markodochartaigh]

19. On the other hand,

Though diminished from the early 2000s, the largest segment of Americans, 37%, are creationist purists, saying God created humans in their present form within the past 10,000 years.


https://news.gallup.com/poll/647594/majority-credits-god-humankind-not-creationism.aspx

[Conjuay]

25. And 10% that yhe earth is flat.

[markodochartaigh]

34. In case anyone thinks that you are being hyperbolic,

here is a study showing exactly what you said, and more.

For the record, I'm not really convinced that humans evolved. At least not all of us.
/s


https://carsey.unh.edu/publication/conspiracy-vs-science-survey-us-public-beliefs

[sakabatou]

5. I believe there's life outside of our planet.

I'm not saying intelligent life, just life. Yes, single celled organisms count.

[lapfog_1]

6. the real questions to ask

how many alien races have

a) developed technology that allows them to travel great distances ( whether FTL, long duration, or some sort of worm hole / space warp ).

b) exist at this time ( or within the last, say, 2500 years ( earth years )

c) especially those within about 120 light years of our planet ( or rather where our planet and solar system have been traveling for the last 120 year ). There should be a reason to come investigate this planet. Radio waves would be one reason. Another is that they have developed technology to recognize a "habitable" planet much more so that we have.

The last postulate ( 120 years for radio waves to draw attention ) sort of limits the number of places aliens could come from UNLESS they have developed some form of FTL travel or Space Warp... without all the pesky time dilation issues.

There are almost certainly aliens in our galaxy... and many thousands or millions or billions of aliens in our universe. The number of exo planets, even those in the "goldilocks zones" is so large that it would be the absolute hubris to think we are the only life forms. However, the real question is about time, how many of those aliens are around NOW ( or near to our NOW ) and how many have the technology to visit ( since we do not have the technology to visit them) ???

So Obama is likely correct. There are aliens. they are not likely hiding at Area 51. If they are, then the President isn't cleared to know about it ( for fear that he would "spill the beans" ).

[yaesu]

10. aliens are the last thing I would be thinking about as our country is

being destroyed by monsters, yes, monsters are real too.

[electric_blue68]

12. Hmmm... If we weren't so emeshed in the tribulations of drumphf's & Co cruelties do you think this would have...

bigger headlines?!!
Or is it just too new, and the weekend.

I mean... like... woah??!

I remember in Independence Day when Jeff Goldblum's character's dad Judd Hersh says something like 'why didn't you know?', to the President (Bill ?Pullman).
And the ?Secretary of Defense says "plausible deniability.".

Our galaxy is immense! And it's just one galaxy out of ?millions!

True as posted a lot of factors go from proper? chemicals into proteins into single cells; and up the building block of more complex life, and finally sapiency, and intelligence...eventually?

And as posted... the time factor is any space faring civilization out there now? More than one? A "Federation"? Factions that may be friendly, or hostile to humanity? Maybe indifferent? Are they capable of FTL drive, finding "wormholes", etc?

What can I say? I' been reading, and watching Science Fiction for 62 yrs or so!

[electric_blue68]

13. Quik thing. I vaguely remember from drumphf's first term. Wasn't he going to Reveal The Truth about...

about alien civilization(s).

Now, if it's at all true...

At least, it's Obama, and not drumphf letting the proverbial "cat outta the bag"!
I guess maaaaybe we'll see?? 🤔

*goes to watch Contact* 😉

[Buckeyeblue]

24. If there was anything juicy to reveal he would do it

It would be a good way to distract us from Epstein.

[trusty elf]

14. Well.....

that's one of the few explanations I can come up with to account for Drumpf.

[everyonematters]

16. They are out there. Other than that, I have no idea what to believe.

There are people out there on social media that are saying different things. You go to their website, and it looks like they are trying to make money off of it. I think that there are some scammers out there.

[Wonder Why]

21. "I think that there are some scammers out there." On social media? Nah! Couldn't be! No way!

My belief: "I think some of the people on social media are NOT scammers."

[tinrobot]

18. He also did a follow up post to clarify

Paraphrasing - he said that the universe is so vast, of course there's life out there somewhere. But he has not seen evidence that we've managed to make contact with it.

[electric_blue68]

20. Oh. Well. That's a Let Down.

😑

[Laffy Kat]

23. Oh, ok. I didn't see that. nt

[Srkdqltr]

26. Actually we are probably from people from another planet far out in the universe.

We are looking for our ancestors.

[Walleye]

27. Stephen Hawking said he believed there was other life in the universe

Though intelligent life is another story “for example it has yet to be discovered here on earth“ joking with the machine doing the talking

[SunImp]

31. Probably since we haven't explored the farthest reaches of space

There has to be something just beyond what we can see

[Mosby]

32. His statement.

I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there.

"But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!”

[Beringia]

35. Trump says he will order the release of Pentagon files on aliens and UFOs

The president’s announcement came after predecessor Barack Obama went viral last week for saying aliens are ‘real’

Donald Trump has announced he is directing the defense department and other agencies to release whatever files they have on the search for alien life.

In a post on his social media platform, Trump said that he will ask the defense secretary and others “to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs).”

Obama clarified earlier this week that he had not seen evidence that aliens “have made contact with us,” but said, “statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/20/trump-aliens-ufos-pentagon-files-release

[Laffy Kat]

36. Nice artwork!

About the Orange Menace releasing the Pentagon files: Didn't he say that the first go around?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

37. MaddowBlog-Trump picks a fight with Obama he can't win over aliens, classified disclosures

If the incumbent president is looking for someone who’s actually mishandled classified information, he ought to look in a mirror.

Link to tweet

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-aliens-obama-classified

The answer generated some overwrought headlines about Obama confirming the existence of aliens, so he issued a clarification the day after Cohen’s interview appeared online. “Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there,” the former president said. “But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!”

The follow-up statement almost certainly should have brought the story, such as it was, to a rapid end. Obama’s Republican successor, however, didn’t see it quite that way.

Trump on Obama saying ailens are real: “He's giving you classified information. He's not supposed to be doing that…He made a big mistake.”

— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) 2026-02-19T20:20:52.735Z

.....Doocy quickly followed up by asking whether Trump was confirming that aliens are real. “I don’t know if they’re real or not,” Trump replied. “I can tell you he gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that. He made a big mistake. He took it out of classified information.”

So, a few things.

First, Trump’s yearslong fixation on Obama continues to be rather creepy. The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd recently accused the Republican of having “Obama Derangement Syndrome,” and there’s ample evidence to bolster the point.

Second, the idea that Obama’s innocuous comments about the likelihood of intelligent life somewhere in the universe reflected “classified information” is so ridiculous that it’s kind of hilarious that Trump even floated the baseless criticisms.

Third, and perhaps most important, Trump probably ought to be more careful about accusations like these, given his track record of blurting out sensitive national security secrets and storing classified files in the bathroom of his glorified country club. Indeed, if the incumbent president is looking for someone who’s actually mishandled classified information, he ought to look in a mirror.

Nevertheless, a few hours after targeting Obama with nonsense, Trump published a related item to his social media platform, announcing his intention to direct federal agencies “to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters.”