The ample amounts of bigotry, racism, and prejudice that made up the vice-presidential debate did not escape the keen insight of original Star Trek cast member George Takei. In what can only be described as a full twitter smack down of the Republican nominee’s running mate Mike Pence, Takei took the opportunity to remind followers of the lies, inconsistencies, and discrimination espoused by the candidate.
Takei, an outspoken LGBT activist, called out Pence’s disregard for human rights with a reference to the candidate’s “religious freedom” bill. The bill, signed while Pence was governor of Indiana, effectively allowed legalized discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. And yet Takei was just warming up. Although Pence recently lost a court case in which he planned to limit refugees, Pence forged ahead with his anti-immigration rhetoric, claiming that America should be fearful of the women and children fleeing violence.
In an attempt to reframe Trump’s damning choice of vocabulary that proclaimed Latinos as rapists, drug dealers, and murders, Pence instead referred to these peoples as “criminal aliens.” Takei saw through the tactic, calling Pence the “polisher in chief.” As Pence plunged ahead in his racism, Takei sagely pointed out that Pence’s argument could very well lead to Takei’s family in an internment camp due to uncertain loyalties. And as Pence discussed the idea of “extreme vetting” of immigrants, Takei lamented the fact that Trump’s campaign hadn’t exercised enough “extreme vetting” when choosing Pence.
The remaining time of the debate was spent with Pence defending Russian President Vladimir Putin and attempting to spin Donald Trump’s years of well-documented racist and bigoted comments. Pence wanted voters to buy into the idea that Trump hadn’t really said all those horrible things. Pence tried to spin, lie, deflect, contradict, and dodge uncomfortable questions in an attempt to portray Donald Trump in a more favorable light. He failed to recognize the fact that denial does not magically erase the Republican nominee’s recorded statements of hatred, exclusion, and discrimination.
Pence spent most of the debate complaining that the fact Democratic running mate Tim Kaine cited were “insults,” but Takei’s take on the situation couldn’t be clearer. Citing the fact that Pence wanted voters to believe that “Trump did not say what everyone of course heard him say,” Takei made the most profound statement of the evening. Despite Pence’s best efforts to rewrite the evidence, Takei tweeted the knock out punch:
“He can’t fix this mess.”