Are you not entertained?
“The whole response to the balloon thing,” complains Damon Linker, “vividly illustrates how degraded American public life has become. Politicians spouting BS to gain likes and applause online, ordinary people pronouncing on events in utter ignorance and with a total absence of humility. Not good.”
But kind of perfect too.
A more-or-less low-stakes drama with a dollop of slapstick comedy to leaven the frisson of crisis; a spectacular conclusion; and an ironic twist that the writers saved for the end.
There were great visuals, and enough performative outrage to fill several news cycles, including all the takes that aged like tuna left out in the sun. And, of course, the ominous balloon from Beijing blasted into shredded Kleenex by America’s Top Guns.
Something for everyone, really.
**
As the story unfolded, the usual suspects felt the need to exhibit their talents. There was, for example this Paul Gosar-Kari Lake mashup:
And the deep thoughts of MTG.
Super-alpha males also took the opportunity to expose themselves with cringey memes about the super-alpha-ex-president:
**
For much of the weekend, before Dark Brandon blew the fuqqer out the sky, the balloon was cast as a symbol of our national weakness so potent that it made Marco Rubio apparently forget about the whole Ukraine thing.
And of course, the guy who gave us “Kanye. Elon. Trump,” weighed in:
Of course, that became a favorite talking point. “I can nearly guarantee you that that balloon would not still be flying if we were still there,” former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Sean Hannity on Friday.
But the word “nearly,” was doing quite a bit of fancy footwork there.
As it turns out, Chinese spy balloons had, in fact, crossed into U.S. airspace during the Trump years. Three times. Or maybe more.
"PRC [People's Republic of China] government surveillance balloons transited the continental United States briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration of time," a senior defense official said at the conference.
The Pentagon now says that there were sightings near Texas, Florida, Hawaii and Guam. It’s not clear what Trump himself knew, or when he knew it. But the news clearly triggered him:
**
As with all dark comedies, questions linger:
Even though the Biden administration terminated the balloon with great prejudice on Saturday, why was it allowed to linger for so long?
Shouldn’t it have been shredded before it even crossed into U.S. airspace, as former CIA director Leon Panetta has suggested?
Did the decision embolden the Chinese?
Or, as David Ignatius suggests, did the decision result in “a net intelligence plus for the United States”?
The secrets part of the story should be clearer if the Pentagon recovers the intelligence-collection pod that the balloon was carrying, as officials expected on Saturday would be possible. The pod apparently fell into the Atlantic largely intact, the official said, and it should provide a useful opportunity to examine and reverse-engineer Chinese intelligence and communications systems.
Thus, from an intelligence standpoint, Pentagon officials believe that the strange week-long balloon voyage was ultimately of more benefit to the United States than to China. By waiting until the balloon was over U.S. territorial waters, the Biden administration was able to maximize the likelihood that the pod could be recovered while minimizing the risk that Americans would be injured by falling debris.
**
EXIT TAKE: Despite the ongoing partisan rancor, one notable takeaway from the destruction of the balloon was the extraordinary unanimity about the need to pop it.
As Politico noted, the Great Red Balloon Affair of 2023 demonstrated that the “new geopolitical reality {is that] there is no downside to being a China hawk.”
What those Wisconsin tapes told us
They knew right from the start.
The Trump campaign knew it had lost Wisconsin to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. But new audiotapes first published by the Associated Press confirm Trump operatives decided to ignore reality and instead “fan the flame” by spreading false allegations of fraud.
Yet more evidence, as if we even needed more evidence.
Those fraud allegations were repeatedly debunked and discredited, even as Donald Trump repeatedly demanded that the Wisconsin election be overturned, demanded costly recounts and then sued (and lost) multiple times in court. No evidence of significant fraud was ever found.
The audio tapes obtained by the AP show that on Nov. 5, 2020, two days after the election, Trump operatives acknowledged that Biden had won the Badger State by about 21,000 votes. Yet more evidence, as if we even needed more evidence.
On the tapes, the head of Trump’s Wisconsin campaign, Andrew Iverson, is heard saying:
“Here’s the drill: Comms is going to continue to fan the flame and get the word out about Democrats trying to steal this election. We’ll do whatever they need (inaudible) help with. Just be on standby in case there’s any stunts we need to pull.”
No one on the conference call suggested that Trump had actually won, or that the election had been stolen.
You can read the whole thing here.
Tim Miller and I walk into a bar…
ICYMI… Our weekend pod:
Quick Hits
“The Institutional Arsonist Turns on His Own Party,” Peter Wehner in the Atlantic.
“Taking Aim at Trump, Koch Network Will Back G.O.P. Primary Candidates,” Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan, Kenneth Vogel, NYT.
“CNN’s Elie Honig Predicts Donald Trump Will Remain ‘Untouchable’ In All Key Cases,” Mediaite (report on Bulwark Podcast episode).
“Four Problems with Jim Jordan’s New Charm Offensive,” Dennis Aftergut, The Bulwark.
“A Turning Point for Trump’s 2024 Prospects?” Whit Ayres (from “The Focus Group”).
“Biden Could Campaign on Insulin Price Caps. Could Harris?” David Frum (from “Beg to Differ”).
Cheap Shots
If they'd shot the thing down over Montana and it had crushed one cow, Republicans would be calling Biden a murderer.
From Peter Wehner's piece in the Atlantic, "The Institutionalist Arsonist Turns On His Own Party" -
"In such a closely divided nation, a third-party campaign by Trump would cripple the GOP in 2024, because almost all of Trump’s votes would come from people who would otherwise vote Republican."
Can anyone think of a more poetic justice for today's GOP than that? After years of quiet acquiescence, turning a blind eye, defending the indefensible, to actively and enthusiastically participating in the lies, disinformation, violent rhetoric, open racism, and anti-democratic schemes, to be shot down by the monster they created, nurtured, and unleashed - well it couldn't happen to a nicer party, could it?