After the histrionics of the last few years, it should be clear by now that the anti-Trump crowd would vote for pretty much anyone – or anything – other than the Orange Devil himself. After all, he stole the election from Hillary (never mind that she took it from Bernie). He stole the idea of a border wall from the Democrats circa 2006-2009 and his child immigrant cages from Obama (never mind that they no longer recall this stance). Now President Trump has stolen the Starfleet logo for his own ridiculous Space Force.
Is it any wonder that Democrats say they’ll vote for literally anyone other than the thief in chief? Even the tens of “moderate” supporters of Joe Biden would vote for Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) if he were the only non-Trump option – though a dead cat might be better.
IP in the Final Frontier
The official Space Force logo was revealed a couple of Fridays ago, and the anti-Trumpers quickly recognized it. Clearly, it’s a knock-off of the Starfleet Command logo from Star Trek. BuzzFeed spotted the rip-off, though not until actor George Takei (that’s Commander Hikaru Sulu, for the uninitiated) tweeted, presumably speaking for the Star Trek franchise in general: “Ahem. We are expecting some royalties from this.”
While many outlets reported this, only BuzzFeed caught that this isn’t the first time the government pulled a logo from the iconic television series. The Air Force Space Command emblem, which the Trumpians claim is the true inspiration behind the new Space Force design, is also clearly a Starfleet rip-off. After all, the USAF Space Command was established in 1982 – 16 years after the debut of the original Star Trek series.
But here’s the kicker: That logo lefties and so-called Trekkies (a true diehard fan would know this, one might argue) think inspired both the Space Command and Space Force emblems didn’t appear until season four of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. That’s 1996, for those of you keeping track – 16 years after the USAF Space Command logo’s arrival.
So who ripped off whom?
Now, let’s be fair to Star Trek writers and designers: There’s no malicious thievery involved here. Think about what Starfleet is. The United Federation of Planets’ Starfleet grew out of Earth’s Starfleet. This agency, of course, was based on – and evolved from – NASA. That’s pretty clear in the lore of the show. The guy who designed this emblem, Michael Okuda, never pretended it was anything other than homage to the “historical” agency from which Starfleet was born.
“The Starfleet Command seal was first seen in ‘Homefront’ (DS9) and later in ‘In the Flesh’ (VGR), although the agency itself, of course, dates back to the original Star Trek series,” Okuda wrote in the Star Trek Sticker Book. “The symbol was intended to be somewhat reminiscent of the NASA emblem.”
For those not familiar with the franchise, DS9 and VGR are Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, respectively.
Dead Cats over Trump – But We’ll Settle for Bernie
As you may recall from the 2016 election, Love Trumps Hate. Well, it should, anyway. It didn’t win Hillary the presidency back then, but Democrats hope it will pay off this time – and they’re willing to do anything to make sure it does. They’ll even vote for Bernie Sanders if they must.
BuzzFeed showed a little love for Bernie last week – well, less hate than Trump, anyway. “I would vote for my dead cat over Trump,” said Sandy Stanley, a 71-year-old Democrat at a Joe Biden campaign stop in Muscatine, IA. BuzzFeed reports that she – like most of the Biden fans, apparently – doesn’t like Bernie Sanders. However, she’ll vote for him if the options are Sanders or Trump. She’d rather elect President Kitty Corpse, but Bernie will do if neither Biden nor the dead cat manage to bring home the DNC nomination.
The Biden Brigade claim that Bernie is too divisive and that they fear he would drive the party too far toward open socialism, thus making it even harder for Democrats to beat Trump. And they’re probably right. But they’ll still back him if that’s where the party goes. As Dick Huber said, “I would vote for him. Begrudgingly.” No word yet as to Mr. Huber’s feelings about Mrs. Stanley’s dead cat, but the sentiment is clear: anyone – or anything – but Trump.
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Read more from James Fite.
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