My boomers are generally distrustful of government, but it's taken this stupid balloon story for my dad (ex-Navy) to see how flagrantly fake the media is.
For the unitiated, if the balloon thing was real you'd never have heard about it... It's have been dealt with probably before reaching out airspace.
Theatre maybe, but still probably a touchstone to be referenced later when whatever happens happens. Basically a meme in real life so there is a solid national narrative when the cia decides to give it actual meaning (a nuke goes off, or emp, or war with china, or biden is ousted)