Like most politicians, Donald Trump did not campaign on the issue of space aliens. But 15 months into his second term, UFO enthusiasts have been buoyed by the Trump administration’s apparent fascination with extraterrestrials, with one expert claiming the human race has “never been closer” to being presented with hard evidence of aliens.

After a largely alien-free first 12 months, the president has committed himself to UFO disclosure in 2026. In February, Trump directed various departments to release “government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life”, and the White House took the unusual step of registering domain “aliens.gov” in March, setting pulses racing among believers online.

UFO watchers have been further buoyed because the president is surrounded by extraterrestrial believers in his professional and personal life.

JD Vance has said he is “obsessed” with UFOs. The vice-president, an enthusiastic Christian, believes they are “demons” rather than aliens – while Donald Trump Jr, the president’s adult son, declared last year that there is “evidence of non-human intelligence out there engaging with our planet”.

With an alien-curious government seemingly in place, some in the UFO-watching community believe the groundwork has been laid for disclosure. The Department of Defense said it plans to release “never-before-seen UAP [unidentified unidentified anomalous phenomenon] information”, and the issue is gaining momentum in Congress too: last week, Tim Burchett, a Republican congressman from Tennessee, used an interview to proclaim “we are not alone”.

The developments come after a series of remarkable UFO hearings have been held in Washington in recent years. In 2023, David Grusch, a former intelligence official, testified to Congress that the US had operated a “multi-decade” program which collected, and attempted to reverse-engineer, crashed UFOs. The government said it had not done this.

“We’ve never been closer to disclosure,” said Stephen Bassett, one of the most prominent voices in the UFO world and the founder of Paradigm Research Group, an organization which lobbies the government to release information about aliens.

“The president of the United States is now in a position where he could do this tomorrow, he could set up for a quick press conference out of the Oval Office and confirm in a few minutes that we’re not alone.”

Bassett, who has previously claimed the Vatican has information on aliens, said there had been an “unprecedented” amount of UFO chatter from the administration, with Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, also telling an interviewer last year that she believes in the possibility of extraterrestrials.

He believes that the open discussion of UFOs has normalized the topic, creating a “ripe” situation for Trump to announce aliens exist. He said Trump’s ego, coupled with the Jeffrey Epstein saga, could contribute to the president declaring aliens to be real.

“It would be a huge legacy. It would guarantee him, probably, a Pulitzer Prize. He would go down in history – no matter what else happens during his presidency – that will be forgotten well before people stop talking about the fact that he was the head of state and made the most profound announcement in human history,” Bassett said.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Trump has given no indication that he intends to announce aliens exist.

Others in the UFO world are more circumspect than Bassett, but excitement is undoubtedly growing – including among members of Congress.

Last week, Burchett, the Tennessee congressman, said he had had a recent classified UFO briefing which “would set the Earth on fire” were he to share the details, while Anna Paulina Luna, also a Republican, wrote to the department of defense demanding it release 46 videos of UFO sightings. Earlier this year Luna, from Florida, said the government was going to release “a lot of cool stuff” pertaining to aliens.

An official from the defense department, who asked to be referred to as a “war department official”, said: “The Department of War’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) is working in close coordination with the White House and across federal agencies to consolidate existing UAP records collections and facilitate the expeditious release of never-before-seen UAP information.”

Jordan Flowers, executive director of the Disclosure Foundation, which works to expand transparency about UAPs, seemed hopeful about what the administration might release, although he did not go as far as Bassett.

“This administration certainly seems to have a greater sense of will and interest and determination than what we have than what we have seen previously,” Flowers said.

“We are cautiously optimistic that there can be incremental information released that would help us understand what is happening here.”

Flowers said a short-term win would be the government agreeing to Luna’s request to release the 46 videos. The Disclosure Foundation is hosting an event on UAPs with Mike Rounds, the Republican senator from South Dakota, in Washington in June, which Flowers said could prompt “a dramatic sea change in being able to discuss this topic credibly on Capitol Hill”.

In the meantime, people who believe in aliens – and want the government to confirm their existence – will have to put their faith in a government that has shown a rare interest in what has traditionally been a taboo topic. Vance, seen as the potential Republican presidential candidate in 2028, certainly seems like he won’t let the issue die.

“I have not been able to spend enough time on this, but I am going to,” he told a rightwing podcast last month. “Trust me, I’m obsessed with this.”