GOP Candidate Ted Cruz Weighs In On…. Captain Kirk?

Ken AshfordElection 2016, Popular CultureLeave a Comment

Ted Cruz gets interviewed for The New York Times Magazine and this exchange occurs:

You’re also a fan of ‘‘Star Trek.’’ Do you prefer Captain Kirk or Captain Picard?
Absolutely James Tiberius Kirk.

** a question or two later **

If you were a journalist interviewing you, what would you ask?
Who knows, I might well ask, ‘‘Kirk or Picard?’’ I’ve never been asked that before, and I actually have a strong opinion on it.

Well, that goes with being a Kirk person.
It does indeed. Let me do a little psychoanalysis. If you look at ‘‘Star Trek: The Next Generation,’’ it basically split James T. Kirk into two people. Picard was Kirk’s rational side, and William Riker was his passionate side. I prefer a complete captain. To be effective, you need both heart and mind.

I thought your critique might go in a different direction, because ‘‘Next Generation’’ is more touchy-feely in its politics than the original.
No doubt. The original ‘‘Star Trek’’ was grittier. Kirk is working class; Picard is an aristocrat. Kirk is a passionate fighter for justice; Picard is a cerebral philosopher. The original ‘‘Star Trek’’ pressed for racial equality, which was one of its best characteristics, but it did so without sermonizing.

Do you have a suspicion about whether Kirk would be a Democrat or a Republican?
I think it is quite likely that Kirk is a Republican and Picard is a Democrat.

Yeah.  I don’t know that Kirk was “working class” and Picard was an “aristocrat”.  Seems like both series had pretty much done away with class, at least for Earth and other planet members of the Federation.

But Kirk a Republican?  Why?  Because he was working class?

And Picard a Democrat?  Why?  Because he didn’t fight and he used his brain?

Bill… help me out…