On Sept 18, Politico’s Dave Brown has dropped what just has to be the most epic twitter thread of the year (so far).
My postings on Medium usually have a paywall (to help cover costs), but for this one, no paywall. That’s principally because the content is Dave Brown doing all the heavy lifting, and so all I’m doing is more or less the equivalent of rushing into the coffee shop, dramatically dropping something on to the table where all my friends are sitting, as I excitedly announce “Hey guys, you just have to check this out, this is truly epic“.
First a bit of background. On September 18 1947 the US Air Force was officially established as an independent military service by the National Security Act of 1947. That means of course that Sept 18 was the 78th anniversary. To celebrate, various political accounts posted pictures of jets to mark the occasion. Unfortunately for those politicians the staff they hire are not exactly the brightest clowns in the circus, and so the result is … well, OK, let’s just jump in.
Enjoy.
How to completely screw up celebrating the 78th USAF anniversary
Hat tip to Dave Brown for the excellent takedown.
The thread starts here with an offering by that towering GOP intellect Rep Nancy Mace …
I’m honestly surprised she found the time to post anything, I thought she was too busy engaged in policing who can use the restrooms in Congress (You think I’m kidding about that quip, well, I’m really not, it is literally one of her obsessions)
Anyway, moving on, did anybody else do better?
Sure they did, the Missouri Senate Republicans are quite sure the Turkish Air Force is the USAF …
Republican Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama wishes to celebrate the French Air Force …
Republican Rep Mike Turner from Ohio’s 10th congressional district is clearly a Navy man …
Rep Nancy Mace pops back up again, this time with an offering from her personal Twitter account. She clearly loves being far more wrong than everybody else …
Rep Mary Ann Perez of Texas House of Representatives for House District 144 …
Some random MAGA account …
Republican Kathleen Passidomo, President of the Florida Senate, appears to think the Russian Air Force is the USAF …
The South Carolina Republican Party appears to think that the Turkish Air Force is USAF …
“Hey I know what to do” thinks Republican Mike Lawler who serves in New York’s 17th congressional district, “I’ll pick one that that has a US symbol on it, that way I can be sure it is USAF“.
Here is how that panned out …
Let’s however be impartial, it was not totally dominated by Republicans.Democrat Gabe Amo, representing Rhode Island’s 1st congressional district, did the same …
Meanwhile as pointed out by somebody else, Ted Cruz was almost right, but as is his way with most things, was wrong enough to strike out …
Was it all a Prank?
Did somebody craft AI images perhaps, and so the posting were faked?
Grok advises it is all real …
The Internet does its thing
Of course it does …
Thoughts
Why oh why is it so f**king hard for the social media teams of elected officials, mostly Republican, to find photographs of the right aircraft.
Perhaps because it is oh so symbolic of the times we live in. Seeking attention is all that matters, and being accurate and factual while doing so is not part of that agenda.
Being stupid used to ruin a political career, but it now appears to be a mandatory requirement.
Kimmel is gonna have a field day with this. Oh, wait…