Whiteman air base gets in a tiff, the Air Force steps in and Santa is a casualty

Looks like Santa Claus can make his rounds in a fighter jet this year if he wants.

It’s the least the U.S. Air Force could do for ol’ St. Nick after it tweeted on Wednesday that Santa Claus isn’t real.

Oops.

Here’s how it happened, according to CNN.

Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota were having a goodnatured tweet fight over which base is better, CNN reports.

So papa Air Force stepped in to cool things down between the bickering siblings.

“We didn’t want to have to do this, but if you 2 can’t get along we must ... Santa will bring you nothing this year...becuase (sic) he isn’t real!” the Air Force tweeted.

The Air Force also threatened to take away the bases’ TV privileges for a week.

The banter might have remained under the radar had the Washington Examiner not been watching.

It ran a story with this headline: “Air Force confirms Santa Claus isn’t real while chiding quarreling bases on Twitter.”

Oops.

The Air Force tweeted at Examiner reporter Anna Giaritelli, clarifying its stance on Santa and reminding her that the North American Aerospace Defense Command — aka NORAD — in Colorado tracks Santa’s travels on Christmas Eve.

“Santa is real,” the Air Force tweeted. “Bluffing to get @Whiteman_AFB @TeamMinot in line. Tracking him (Santa) in Dec @NoradNorthcom”

The Air Force took a bit of friendly fire before it walked back its declaration.

People reacted like they had been told that, well, Santa doesn’t exist.

This story was originally published October 26, 2017 at 10:06 AM with the headline "Whiteman air base gets in a tiff, the Air Force steps in and Santa is a casualty."