Enemies in the Mirror: MAGA, Mamdani, and Star Trek’s Timeless Truth

What Let That Be Your Last Battlefield reveals about today’s political rivalries.

There is an episode in the classic 60’s Star Trek series titled “Let That Be Your Battlefield” where Captain Kirk and his crew encounter an alien political refugee who is on the run from his pursuer who eventually catches up with his foe. What is striking about the two aliens is that they are “white” on one side and “black” on the other. When Kirk inquires further at the source of their political disagreement between them, the two aliens explain as if it were obvious; one is “white” on left side and “black” on the right, and on his enemy, it is reversed.

Captain Kirk is left dumbfound as they are essentially two sides of the same coin.

That’s pretty much how I felt this week watching my MAGA friends respond to the victory of Zohran Mamdani’s win as mayor of New York City.

Did they really think after Republicans finally made the Hail Mary move of “Break Glass in case of Emergency” and grabbed a rules breaking, institution ignoring agent of chaos, the Democrats weren’t going to eventually respond in kind? Especially after the debacle the Biden and then Kamala Harris election provided.

No, both sides are “going to the mattresses” to coin a popular “Godfather” movie line suggesting the normal rules of engagement are off and we better be prepared for a protracted battle that will get messy.

Indeed, many Republican voters (some of my friends and family included) see Trump as a necessary disruptor, someone who speaks for the “forgotten man” in a system they perceive as rigged against them. But his brand of politics has mostly just elevated demagoguery over policy, and replaced compromise (something necessary in a functional democracy) with a zero-sum struggle for dominance. For me personally, I could appreciate some of the issues Trump was addressing but was not willing to make the sacrifice of democratic norms in order to get there.

Jesus’ trial in the desert taught me how to turn down that deal when it’s offered…

Now the opposite side of the same coin emerges with Democratic politicians like Zohran Mamdani who the party sees as their own disrupter. Mamdani is a Muslim and self-proclaimed democratic socialist who in previous years would have seen both of those identities as disqualifying to the average American voter.

But not in the era of MAGA…

While Mamdani’s socialism is far from the authoritarian communism of the 20th century, his rhetoric about systemic oppression and class struggle resonates with progressives disillusioned by the failures of a Biden era centrism.

But if it’s one thing MAGA loves doing is “owning the libs” and watching them meltdown at the latest pronouncement from “The Donald”. For them it’s what warms their belly.

So are we surprised when the Democrats respond in kind? That they would reject the institutional heir apparent Andrew Cuomo for a Muslim socialist whose appeal seems targeted toward the Tik Tok generation.

And it seemed to work as Mamdani’s win caused a MAGA meltdown, at least according to my social media feeds. The comedic memes describing the subsequent fallout would suggest New York City is now reduced to something Snake Plissken would need to rescue Donald Trump from

Personally what I find disturbing is each side flirts with historically discredited forms of governance that Americans have typically fought against; Communism with the Democrats and Fascism with the Republicans. Each will roll their eyes at the accusation and admittedly I don’t think either party has married themselves to these forms of government…

…but they do like to flirt.

And like Captain Kirk, I just look at the two sides sporting the same colors but on opposite sides of their face trying to convince me how evil the other side is and say (along with millions of Americans), “I think you are both nuts”

Peace,

Steve

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