Watch/Listen: Patriots Cheer When US Airpower Finally Shreds Balloon Overhead

By Ryan Ledendecker February 5, 2023 at 12:11pm

If we’re all being honest, then we can agree that for the past two years under President Joe Biden, there hasn’t been much, if anything, to cheer about.

But for a brief moment on Saturday, that changed. As the Chinese surveillance balloon made its way out over the Atlantic Ocean from the Carolinas, the United States finally downed the balloon after it had already traversed the airspace above the United States mainland and presumably accomplished its data-gathering mission.

Regardless, watching a U.S. fighter jet blow the high-altitude CCP surveillance asset to particles was enough to elicit patriotic cheers from those lucky enough to watch the event live.

“Nice shot from Myrtle Beach, SC,” one Twitter user wrote.

Nice shot from Myrtle Beach, SC pic.twitter.com/VghX6NuZ0y

— ChrisGastardi (@ChrisGastardi) February 5, 2023

“Love to hear Patriots cheering!” one Twitter user responded.

From the illegal immigration crisis to crippling inflation and soaring prices at the grocery store and gas pump, Americans ran out of cheers shortly after Biden was inaugurated, when it became painfully clear how bad things would become under his watch.

While it’s always awesome to hear Americans, hopefully from all sides, cheering together in a patriotic spirit, another Twitter user pointed out that the downing of the Chinese intel asset was a day late and a dollar short.

“Nothing to cheer. Weak military response…nothing should be invading our airspace,” the Twitter user wrote.

Nothing to cheer. Weak military response…nothing should be invading our airspace.

— Winter Ω🐸✨️ (@thekamboreset) February 5, 2023

Fair enough. The very moment a massive, three-school-bus-sized CCP spy balloon crossed over the Aleutian Islands, F-22 Raptor stealth fighters from Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson in Alaska should have been called out to vaporize it.

I feel strongly that our prior administration would have probably made that easy call, complete with an endzone dance to show China who’s in control. Former President Donald Trump said as much in a Truth Social post on Friday, writing, “SHOOT DOWN THE BALLOON!”

If the current administration had made that call when it should have, it would have been a massive, much-needed, and super-easy PR win with Republicans and Democrats cheering in unison.

Instead, the Biden administration, reportedly well aware of the balloon floating over U.S. airspace and sucking up whatever intel the Chinese military wanted, the New York Post reported, allowed the balloon to cross over some 4,000 miles of American territory before it was finally eliminated over the Atlantic Ocean.

🚨#BREAKING: Incredible HD footage of the Chinese surveillance balloon being shot down

🚨#MyrtleBeach l #SC

Watch incredible HD video of the moment when the Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down by a single missile from an F-22 fighter jet from Langley Air Force Base pic.twitter.com/KjwTrgcvcb

— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) February 4, 2023

CNBC reported Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin green-lit the operation to destroy the Chinese balloon, utilizing a fighter jet from the U.S. Northern Command to take out the communist trash.

“In accordance with the president’s direction, the Department of Defense developed options to take down the balloon safely over our territorial waters, while closely monitoring its path and intelligence collection activities,” Austin said in a statement.

Austin also confirmed that the CCP spy balloon was used “in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States.” Chinese officials have denied that the balloon was used for such activities, instead saying it was a scientific balloon blown off course.

Austin added, “Today’s deliberate and lawful action demonstrates that President Biden and his national security team will always put the safety and security of the American people first while responding effectively to the PRC’s unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.”

Did Biden jeopardize American security by waiting so late to stop the Chinese spy balloon?

However, I agree with Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz’s assessment of what happened and why.

“I think the only reason they shot it down is because it made it into the news, and they felt forced to as a matter of politics rather than national security,” Cruz said Sunday on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”

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