The US President and his formerly favorite South African have had a major falling out. The WH says it may pull all of SpaceX's contracts, the South African says 'go ahead', and he's decommissioning the Dragon crew vehicle, the US's only safe method of getting to and from the ISS.
Meanwhile, half of NASA's efforts are heading for the chop too.
"L'État, c'est moi." ("I am the state.") Louis XIV, the 'Sun King' said about his absolute monarchy. The problem with having just one person in charge is that everyone suffers when they behave idiotically. Sadly, the once mighty US Space Program looks like being a casualty of that. Surely, this paves the way for China to be the world's preeminent space power.
America has to have some kinda launch vehicle, but I can't see the GOP funding a government approach, no payoff for them.
Uhhh apparently you haven't heard of the pork barrel that is the Senate Launch System (SLS). A huge government-funded rocket, supported by Republican Senators Cruz and Shelby, it costs about 5 billion per launch. A government approach to space launch is exactly what we don't want. The government should fund innovative, untested technologies and bold space science missions that are unprofitable in the corporate space. They shouldn't waste taxpayer funds on solved problems like space launch. That's exactly what you want companies to focus on.