“This balloon was to see what reaction they would get from us.”
Bingo. VDH was making that point in his podcast today. He pointed out three or four such tests they have made to gauge US reaction - flights near Taiwan, ships in the South China Sea, NORKS sending missiles over Japan. We have failed every test. They know exactly what Biden is and believe they have him bought.
Wall Street Journal wrote this was their 5th balloon. The previous ones entered the US for much shorter periods and didn’t make the news.