White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki faced backlash Tuesday after not only mocking the Space Force during a press briefing, but appearing to have no understanding of the sixth branch of the armed forces whatsoever.
Responding to a reporter’s (serious) question about whether President Biden “has made a decision on keeping, or keeping the scope of, Space Force,” Psaki responded sarcastically, “Wow. Space Force. It’s the plane of today!”
“It’s not. It’s an entire branch,” the reporter responded.
Needless to say, Psaki didn’t have an answer to that “interesting question” but said that she’d check with their Space Force contact, which she admitted she had no idea who that even is.
Space Force is a joke to the Biden administration. pic.twitter.com/x3GXSVpaf1
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) February 3, 2021
In all seriousness, this was a very real question about Space Force, and deserved a real answer. Her disdain for questions that fall outside the “what is the President’s favorite ice cream!?” genre is really a problem.
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) February 3, 2021
Rep. Mike Rogers, the House Armed Services Committee's top Republican, called her comment "disgraceful."
“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," he said.
“The Space Force was passed with near unanimous support in Congress, the same type of ‘unity’ President Biden is supposedly working towards,” Rogers continued. “Jen Psaki needs to immediately apologize to the men and women of the Space Force for this disgraceful comment.”
Psaki did end up circling back, but the tweet was not received any better.
"We look forward to the continuing work of Space Force and invite the members of the team to come visit us in the briefing room anytime to share an update on their important work," she later tweeted.
This is sheer mockery. I know the new regime lives to crap on anything #Trump did, but honorable members of the armed forces are involved in #SpaceForce and deserve better than this adolescent snark. #JenPsaki https://t.co/j9JZvYJK0f
— Mark Davis (@MarkDavis) February 3, 2021
If she's truly interested in learning more about Space Force, she could start by doing her own research on some of their "important work" first.
Exclusive: How the Space Force foiled an Iranian missile attack with a critical early warning https://t.co/CwRdsXx960 pic.twitter.com/OowVKTMbah
— Defense News (@defense_news) January 7, 2021