>But if patriots are in control, and it was actually a spy balloon, why would they allow it to cruise all over the country sniffing for clues
Perhaps it was 'allowed' in order to wake up a population, grab their attention via the media, and get a conversation started about China and national security.
>the media wouldn't have discussed it at all.
I don't think the intelligence agencies have ever had a problem planting a media story. That's one of the reasons the alphabets are in the media business - to create or control the narrative, as needed. In the modern era creating cover identities on social media and boosting the exposure of posts to be promoted would serve a similar purpose.