Jesse Watters Floats Batsh*t Solutions to Spy Balloon
“How about you crank some of those windmills cockeye and, you know, blow it back to Canada?” suggested the Fox host.
The Chinese surveillance balloon floating above the continental U.S. would be subjected to a handful of unfeasible and outright silly actions if Fox News host Jesse Watters were in charge.
Despite Pentagon officials advising President Biden that shooting down the sizable balloon would risk harming civilians on the ground, Watters didn’t appear too concerned about that Friday on The Five.
“Why not shoot it over Montana?” Watters said before theorizing that anyone whose property gets damaged would be satisfied by the fame that would ensue. “That’s your barn that it lands on. The feds reimburse you the money, and then you set up a little museum for the rest of your life and you live off that. You do Good Morning America, you do Fox and Friends, and that’s it.”
Fox host says the DOD should just shoot down the balloon because whoever's property it destroys will become famous pic.twitter.com/rLmbbSKAJd
— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) February 3, 2023
Watters is far from the only conservative calling for the balloon to be shot down, with Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake giddily posting photos of themselves armed on Twitter.
In his 7 p.m. show on Fox, Watters nevertheless offered some alternatives.
Get the best of The Beast delivered right to your inbox
By clicking “SUBSCRIBE” you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
“How about you crank some of those windmills cockeye and, you know, blow it back to Canada?” Watters suggested, perhaps angling for the agreement of Donald Trump, whose dislike of windmills is well-documented.
“Or how about you ram it with the Goodyear blimp?” he continued, as if strategizing how to complete a video game mission. “Scramble some more F-22 Raptors. Throw some lead in that sucker.”
“Trump wanted to nuke a hurricane. You guys won’t even throw a dart at a balloon? We’re just going to wait until the weather blows it away?” he added dismissively.
During his monologue, Watters also warned that if a similar balloon were to hover in U.S. airspace in the future, it could be “filled with another virus” by the Chinese. Earlier Friday, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) wondered if the future was now, saying on Fox that the balloon currently in the air could have “bioweapons” from “Wuhan.”
See more of our coverage in your search results.
Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Daily Beast.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.