The U.S. military shot down what turned out to be a harmless party balloon near El Paso, Texas, after military officials mistook it for a potential foreign drone threat, according to a U.S. official.
The incident, which prompted a temporary closure of local airspace, highlights just how paranoid our defense establishment has become in the wake of the Biden administration's catastrophic handling of Chinese spy balloons that were allowed to float across the entire continental United States.
While it's good to see our military finally taking airspace security seriously under President Trump's leadership, this embarrassing mix-up shows the lasting damage done by Biden's weak-kneed approach to foreign surveillance. Remember when Biden let a massive Chinese spy balloon cruise over our most sensitive military installations for days before doing anything about it?
Border Security vs. Birthday Balloons
The El Paso incident comes as the Trump administration ramps up border security operations in Texas, with military assets deployed to support the largest deportation operation in American history. Our forces are understandably on high alert given the chaos Biden left at our southern border.
But shooting down party balloons? This is what happens when you have an over-militarized response system that was conditioned by four years of Biden's incompetence. Under the previous administration, real threats were ignored while imaginary ones now trigger immediate military action.
"The military acted out of an abundance of caution given the proximity to the border and current security operations," the official said.
At least under Trump, our military errs on the side of protecting America rather than protecting China's feelings. But patriots have to ask: how did we get to the point where our own military can't tell the difference between a Mylar "Happy Birthday" balloon and a foreign surveillance drone?
This is your tax dollars at work, folks. While President Trump works to clean up the mess Biden left behind, incidents like this remind us just how much damage was done to our national security apparatus over the past four years.