They didn't google after they had this idea? 2-letter TLDs are reserved for countries, whether the alpha-2 code is currently used or not. And creating a country is harder than you might think, more dedicated people have tried and failed (e.g. Sealand).
Title is misleading by the way.
Failed to google this and thought they'll be able to register and maintain a TLD? Laughable is the only thing that comes to mind.
It can't be done... Ok, but... what if we ask people to give us US$200.000 to do it and we'll sort out all the tiny details later?
It seems they -or some of them- are now aiming for a .src TLD [0]