They did indeed boldly go.
Politicians are fond of telling the electorate that “every vote counts”, and Joe Biden’s campaign went far out on Tuesday night when it held a virtual rally targeting the Star Trek voting bloc.
Hosted by Democatic politicians Stacey Abrams, Pete Buttigieg and Andrew Yang, “Trek the vote to victory!” was an unusual campaign event – featuring a raft of Star Trek stars including Patrick Stewart, Mulgrew and George Takei, and apparently aimed firmly at Trekkies.
The rally offered the latest example of how Biden has attracted celebrities to his campaign, and it also provided a chance for whoever runs the Biden campaign Twitter account to do a joke.
“President Biden is the highly logical choice and vice-president Harris will boldly go where no woman has gone before,” Biden campaign account wheezed on Tuesday afternoon.
The Star Trek quotes didn’t end there – an email from Yang on Monday told supporters it has “never been more important to boldly go into these last 22 days” – but with Biden 10 points ahead of Donald Trump, according to a RealClearPolitics polling average, and 17 points in the latest Opinium/Guardian polls, the campaign can be forgiven for a little jollity.
It was Yang, who ran against Biden for the Democratic nomination, who opened up the event, the self-professed “math nerd” proving himself to be a keen trekker.
Things didn’t go immediately to plan, however, when one of the Star Trek actors – 19 cast members, from five iterations of the show, appeared at the event – immediately praised a policy idea that Yang had championed, and that Biden has ignored.
“I just want to say thank you for bringing the idea of universal basic income into the mainstream of political conversation,” Will Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: Next Generation, told Yang.
“It’s super important and there’s no excuse for that not to go forward.”
Universal basic income – the idea of the government giving every adult a regular stipend – was Yang’s key issue during his presidential campaign, but it is not a part of Biden’s plans for government.
The awkwardness continued as Marina Sirtis, aka Counselor Deanna Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation, used the Biden event to offer very faint praise for the Democratic nominee.
“I mean I lean very left,” Sirtis said. “But this time we had to just find someone who can beat Trump.”
As the Star Trek event rolled on, an intriguing backdrop became just how many rising Democratic politicians are fans of the show.
Pete Buttigieg, who had earlier shared an old photo of himself dressed in a Star Trek costume, tuned in, wielding a Borg action figure as he chatted with Takei about how Star Trek taught viewers equality.
Julián Castro, who like Buttigieg ran for the Democratic nomination, hosted an environmental chat where he asked Stewart – a noted climate activist – about climate change.
“We have here an opportunity,” Stewart said.
“An urgent opportunity, for not just America to be great again, but for the planet to become great for the very first time. To connect together to fight these appalling conditions.”
Biden has won over the lion’s share of celebrities ahead of November – Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Amy Poehler and Mark Hamill have held fundraisers for the Democrat – leaving the fame-obsessed Trump with thin gruel.
The president’s highest profile supporters currently include long-time Republican and actor Scott Baio; Alec Baldwin’s brother, Stephen Baldwin; actor-turned-conspiracy-theorist James Woods, and Kid Rock, 49.
As Trek the vote to victory continued it was the turn of Abrams, a progressive icon who was the Democratic nominee for Georgia governor in 2018, and one of the Trek the vote to victory hosts, to take over hosting duties.
According to the New York Times Abrams “can recite with picayune detail the obscure plot points from incidents buried deep in the [Star Trek] canon”, and the former gubernatorial candidate seemed nervous.
“I literally just tweeted out that I was about to talk to you guys, and therefore do not require Christmas presents this year, or possibly ever again in life,” Abrams told the female Star Trek actors. (She had indeed tweeted.)
Abrams discussed the challenges women face with the group, before announcing: “My captain is Captain Janeway,” referring to the Starfleet captain played by actor Kate Mulgrew, who was in attendance.
Abrams asked Mulgrew how the group could “understand about what our power is as women?”, as the unusual rally hit on a poignant moment.
“Women are infinitely and inherently more interesting [than men], just because we are women. We are more complex, we are more empathetic, we are generally far more capable,” Mulgrew, whose character was the first female captain to lead a series and has inspired Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez among others, said.
“Has it ever occurred to women at large that men are just a little bit on the back foot about us?
“They’re afraid. It’s a lot to be a women. It’s huge to be a woman. We just have to own it, it’s that simple.”
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