A Republican state senator drew a fact-check — and a round of mockery — for confusing a "Star Wars" prop with one of the drones that have been spooking residents along the eastern seaboard.
The Biden administration says the mysterious sightings appear to be "a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones and law enforcement drones," along with "fixed-wing aircrafts, helicopters, and even stars."
But Republican lawmakers and state officials have pressed federal authorities to provide additional details about the unidentified flying objects spotted in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other states — and have sounded many bizarre explanations ranging from alien invasion to Iranian attacks.
"It is inconceivable that the federal government has no answers nor has taken any action to get to the bottom of the unidentified drones," posted Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano on X. "The fecklessness of this administration was on display last year when a Chinese surveillance balloon was allowed to fly over the entire continental United States before being shot down."
"Such should be viewed as a threat to our nation and citizens and action is long overdue," added Mastriano. "We have recourses and assets in our arsenal to get answers, but I suppose Ukraine is more important to the White House. January 20th can’t come soon enough."
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However, the GOP legislator and failed gubernatorial candidate's post included a screenshot of one of the purported drones, which claimed it had been retrieved from water near Orange Beach, presumably in Alabama.
Other social media users noticed it appeared to be Tie Fighter prop from the "Star Wars" films.
Even Elon Musk's X platform posted a note on Mastriano's post pointing out his error.
"They're not sending their best," posted Robert McGuire, vice president for data and research for Bluesky.
"I don’t want to discount greed and bigotry but a lot of it is that they’re just really f--king stupid," said writer Sam Thielman.
"Reaching new levels of psychosis out there," added Matt Gertz, senior fellow for Media Matters.
"Look, this may be a joke," said Jack Jenkins, a reporter for Religion News Service. "But if it isn't…I mean, I've seen a lot strange things in my career, but Doug Mastriano genuinely not recognizing a Tie Fighter — an object from one of the most popular film franchises in human history — might be the thing that finally breaks me."
"I guess it’s not a galaxy far, far away," said X user Charles West.
"I’m pretty sure that’s someone moving a Star Wars prop lol," said self-described "MAGA" account Sean Grillo.
"Mastriano is the JarJar Binks of the Senate," added Bluesky user Eric Blanchard.
