Florida beach flyby shows danger of Hegseth’s hypermasculinity
The beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term coincided with dozens of passengers dying after an Army helicopter collided with a commercial airplane. Given this, one might hope — if not expect — the Trump administration to operate with impeccable sensitivity and care to ensure military aircraft are being properly operated, and certainly that they are not frightening or threatening to the public in any way.
But with man-children in charge of the federal government, even matters of life and death are treated frivolously.
On Wednesday, a jet from the Navy’s Blue Angels, a squad that performs flight demonstrations, flew so close to the ground that it shocked Florida beachgoers, sending items and sand up into the air. This comes after a somewhat similar incident involving two Army helicopters that flew near pro-Trump musician Kid Rock’s house. You may remember that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lifted suspensions for the crews and quashed an investigation.
And Hegseth appeared to respond to Wednesday’s incident in Florida by posting on X: “The flyovers will continue until morale improves.”
The White House responded in typically puerile fashion, using a cartoonish, probably AI-generated illustration of the flyover that — unlike the real scene — featured no screaming children ducking for cover.
“It’s okay to love America,” the post on X said.
A spokesperson told MS NOW that the Navy is reviewing footage of “a low-altitude pass by a team aircraft over Pensacola Beach yesterday.” The spokesperson added:
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
