3 After a weekend of loud, sustained and absurd Republican criticism of President Joe Biden for not shooting down a school bus-length Chinese spy balloon when it could have hurt more people, Republicans are scrambling to explain why Trump didn’t know that. Three Chinese balloons carried the US during the Trump administration.
Rep. Mike Waltz, a Florida Republican, was outraged to learn that there have been several Chinese balloon incidents in the past few years that have not been shot down.
10:39 AM · February 5, 2023 He He tweeted:
“The Office of the Secretary of Defense has informed my office that there have been several Chinese balloon incidents in the past few years, including in Florida. (sic)
Why weren’t they shot down?
After a minute:
“And according to several Trump admin national security officials — they were never informed of these intrusions by the Pentagon.”
Waltz, a big Trump supporter who voted against impeaching the former president for inciting the uprising, said, “The president loves this country. He doesn’t want violence.
That is clearly a false statement, that Trump incited violence on his behalf in hopes of achieving an auto coup, and what power would get him more than Trump loves himself and he loves this country.
In any case, this claim that Trump didn’t know is circulating in the conservative media.
After US intelligence determined that Chinese spy balloons had flown over the US At least three times during Trump Administration, Fox News wrote: “Trump and his top defense and national security officials told Fox News Digital that it never occurred to them and they never briefed them on any Chinese spy balloons.”
‘It never happened.’ This is a unique claim of the Trump administration. A more accurate way to say this if this is true is ‘we didn’t know this happened.’ But no, because it’s Trump, it denies the possibility and immediately moves to blame someone else. No one told them. It was not his job to know anything.
His job was to protect the US, so questions had to be asked.
Somehow people in Trumpland think this makes it all better:
“This information was discovered later,” the official told Fox News [Trump] left the administration.”
“He was not found,” the official told Fox News Digital.
The fact that three balloons went undetected during the Trump administration is not a good defense. At least one of these balloons flew over Florida and Texas.
The claim that it was discovered after the Trump administration left suggests it’s possible that someone in defense knew and chose not to tell top people in the Trump administration.
The question remains: Why didn’t the Trump administration know about this? At least three Spy balloons.
The good news is in a DOD news brief, “US officials took steps to protect the balloon from storing sensitive information, reducing its intelligence value to the Chinese. The recovery of the balloon will allow US analysts to examine sensitive Chinese equipment,” a senior defense official said.
Now for a completely bonkers sprinkling of conservatives:
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Only Republicans would understand a bit if they didn’t fall over themselves to take a back seat on things. If he had any sense of how to make rational decisions based on knowledge, he wouldn’t be instructing people to shoot down the balloon or screaming how to shoot it down in the first place, when in fact President Biden authorized it to be shot down on Wednesday. , but DOD called for a wait.
These people are tired of their heartfelt hatred and attempts to smear Trump’s failures and incompetence on a Democratic president, but their quick pivot to ‘we didn’t know’ for Trump is not the saving grace they think it is.
If it hasn’t happened yet, somehow they’ll blame President Obama or President Biden for President Trump’s ignorance. Just wait. Marjorie Taylor Greene There will be an investigation of diversity, no need to wait for evidence or facts.
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