The late journalist Andrew Breitbart contributed an enduring dictum to our discourse: “Politics is downstream from culture.”
It explains why Hollywood has insisted on remaking beloved films and series, reworked into lectures of wokeness. Leftist ideology must be imposed into every aspect of life, so it will conquer our governance as well.
Classic science fiction franchises have been hard hit by the revisionist dismantling. But the travesty known as “Star Trek: Discovery” has boldly gone somewhere too unbelievably far even for a space fantasy.
As The Hill reported last week, its showrunners Stacey Abrams, the defeated Democratic candidate for Georgia in the 2018 election, as the leader of the whole world.
On Twitter, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz posed the question that needed to be asked.
what…the…HELL…is…this?? https://t.co/JEkiVtoKef
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 17, 2022
Those who don’t follow the science fiction genre may not know of the troubles in this particular subset of the industry. Recent offerings of former favorites such as “Star Wars,” “Doctor Who,” and Marvel superhero television shows have met with disappointment, outrage, and declining viewership.
Big corporate conglomerates gave partisan hacks creative control over new installments of long-running intellectual properties. The new bosses destroyed cherished legacies and insulted established fan bases by promoting leftist agendas, instead of honoring the spirit of the content they were given.
When fans complained about the distortion and ruination of their hobbies, they were called toxic and divisive.
According to the movie industry news and film review website Indiewire, Abrams has used “Star Trek” as a political prop before, when she hosted a Trek-themed Joe Biden fundraiser in Octorber 2020 with former Democratic presidential contenders Pete Buttigieg and Andrew Yang.
The Abrams “Star Trek” cameo is a stunning, failed attempt to give both gravitas and pop culture pop to a Democrat machine politician.
Casting Abrams as the president of the United Earth is attempted programing, priming the audience into seeing her in a position of authority.
Abrams appearing in “Discovery” is supposed to present her as hip and relevant.
There are many problems with these efforts.
One issue is the negative reputation of “Star Trek: Discovery.”
On the media review site Rotten Tomatoes, the four seasons of “Star Trek: Discovery” since it began in 2017 scored well with establishment critics, earning 86 percent positive reviews.
However, the show earned a dismal 36 percent average audience score. As one fan noted in the comments, “It’s not ‘Star Trek,’ it’s not good sci-fi, it’s not strictly speaking watchable. That’s it.”
“Discovery” did not maintain the optimistic, idealistic vision of the future “Star Trek” was known for. The show was criticized for poor characterizations, bad writing, and an overtly blatant political tone.
Adding Abrams as a piece of stunt casting reinforces the partisan nature of the program.
Abrams is not the person to cast as the leader of anything unified. She has spent the years since 2018 making groundless accusations that she was cheated out of victory in the Georgia governor election. She refused to concede. Republican Brian Kemp won by a 1.4 point margin.
Abrams also uses groundless accusations of racism to deflect criticism like she received after a photo op in which she appeared unmasked with a group of masked children. Her staff pointed out the event was a Black History celebration, as if that meant observations of Abrams’s hypocrisy were off limits. Abrams ultimately had to apologize.
Abrams is running for Georgia governor again, as is Brian Kemp. Former President Donald Trump has endorsed GOP challenger David Purdue in the primary. Trump’s endorsement can be a decisive factor in elections, as recently seen in Texas.
No matter how her future campaign turns out, casting Abrams to play the president of the United Earth when she could not even carry her own state in a high-water year for Democrats shows what kind of fever dreams Hollywood can produce.
Still, the writers should have been honest about their hopes for the future, and called her the dictator of the New World Order.
Hopefully, this make-believe role is as close as Abrams ever comes to any future elected office.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.