Jen Psaki Insulted Sacred Honor Of Space Force, Will Be Thrown Out Airlock

In Space, No One Can Hear You Clutch Your Pearls.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki set off a perfectly predictable rightwing tizzy at yesterday's daily press briefing when she failed to treat a question about Donald Trump's beloved Space Force with the reverence it clearly deserved. Rightwing figures competed to sputter loudest about the supposed gaffe, with Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Alabama), the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, demanding Psaki "immediately apologize" for her slur on America's Guardians, which is the actual real name for members of the Space Force. Oh, how he did go on!

It's concerning to see the Biden administration's press secretary blatantly diminish an entire branch of our military as the punchline of a joke, which I'm sure China would find funny. [...]

The Space Force was passed with near unanimous support in Congress, the same type of "unity" President Biden is supposedly working towards. [...] Jen Psaki needs to immediately apologize to the men and women of the Space Force for this disgraceful comment.

Good heavens! What horrifying, slanderous besmirch statementsdid Psaki inflict on the Space Force, which   is too a real branch of the military? Lordy, if you love America, we hope you're sitting down.

Have your fainting salts and smelly couch ready? She joked dismissively   after Bloomberg reporter Josh Wingrove asked whether Biden has made any decisions about the Space Force, as if the reporter had asked another silly question about Biden's plans for the color scheme of Air Force One:

It's the plane of today" -- Psaki dismisses a question about if Biden plans to keep the Space Force https: //t.co/cBrBj6hYUp

— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1612295898.0 

Wow. Space Force. It's the plane of today. It is an interesting question. I am happy to check with our Space Force point of contact. I'm not sure who that is. I will find out and see if we have any update on that.

No, really, that's the full extent of her treason. She initially laughed off the question and then said she'd get back to the reporter. Later, she tweeted that the Space Force will continue to be out there like Foo Fighters, fighting Foo.

We look forward to the continuing work of Space Force and invite the members of the team to come visit us in the br… https: //t.co/bY0xBxw6ng

— Jen Psaki (@Jen Psaki) 1612311504.0 

From the outrage on the Right, you'd think Psaki had called the Space Force and all its Guardians a bunch of stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herders. Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Florida) echoed Rogers, insisting Psaki's comments were "just another example of the Biden administration not taking China seriously while demeaning the incredible work of Space Force personnel," who probably are doing all they can to earn the right to vote by fighting giant bugs in vaguely Nazi-themed uniforms.

Also, we like that Waltz chose to say "Space Force personnel" so nobody could laugh at him saying "Guardians."

Now, the Space Force does have an actual mission that doesn't involve boldly going where no one has gone before; as when it was simply the US Air Force's Space Command, the outfit is in charge of keeping the military's GPS and missile warning satellites orbiting and doing electronic spy stuff while all the Guardians stay right here planetside.

Other rightwing attention-seekers did their best to suggest that, in laughing at Space Force, Psaki, and by extension Biden, had insulted All The Troops, even the members of the more established branches who have themselves shifted from making fun of the Coast Guard to mocking Space Force. Here's Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado), for instance:

The Space Force is an official branch of our armed services and the Biden administration goes out and openly mocks… https: //t.co/Pjk2QNoYyq

— Lauren Boebert (@Lauren Boebert) 1612309954.0 

Fox News fumed , "Psaki accused of making fun of Space Force, refuses to apologize," with a subhed quoting Rogers's line about how she dared to 'Blatantly diminish an entire branch of our military as the punchline of a joke.'

The Federalist was simply aghast at the horror of it all, in a piece titled " Press Secretary Jen Psaki Scoffs At Space Force After It Saved Americans From Iranian Missile ." How dare she! The missile attack the Spacers "saved" Americans from, by the way, was that Iranian attack on a base in Iraq, which left 110 service members with traumatic brain injuries. 

Hey, remember all the rightwing outrage when Donald Trump dismissed those injuries by saying, "I heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things, but I would say — and I can report it is not very serious"? That seems maybe way worse than laughing at the name "Space Force." Not to mention the reports that Trump called both active duty military members and the Honored War Dead a bunch of losers and suckers. 

But that's OK, because Trump loved the troops he disparaged, while Jen Psaki clearly hates them and wants us to laugh at them, even if she didn't call them losers. Wingnut Brigitte Gabrielle, head of the anti-Muslim hate group ACT! for America, explained that laughing at Donald Trump's dear spacemen cannot be allowed:

And good lord, there's almost nothing funnier than laughing at someone who says something is not funny.

@ACTBrigitte My grandfather didn’t invade Space Normandy just to be disrespected.

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@The Hoarse Whisperer) 1612310318.0 

Yes, there were many variations on the theme. I know that after a hard day of doing heroism for the Space Force, I like to unwind with a Saurian brandy, or perhaps a nice Romulan Ale and a plate of  gagh  , down at my favorite watering hole, the Space ____ Bar. I run a tab.

But perhaps there's something good to be said about all this puffed up, rote outrage on the Right: It smells exactly like the International Space Station, a metallic fog of ozone, garbage, and poop. But it's also very, very familiar, just another echo of the constant, disingenuous rightwing shock and horror when Barack Obama saluted while holding a coffee cup or insulted the Troops by having a Marine hold an umbrella for a visiting foreign president.

Look at it this way: We're back to a kind of normal. Nature is healing.

Keep watching the skies, America!

Update: Thanks to Wonkette Operatives "Minuetteman Raan" and "Egghuffer," who answered the call of doody and helped improve the Space Force seal.

[ Politico / Duffel Blog ]

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