White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller took a break from implementing anti-immigration policies and plotting ways to dismantle the country’s legal system to offer some creative suggestions to the team behind Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
Reposting a clip from the show shared by far-right X account @EndWokeness, Miller wrote on Thursday evening, “Tragic. But it’s not too late for @paramountplus to save the franchise. Step 1: Reconcile with @WilliamShatner and give him total creative control.”
Several other users were quick to point out that William Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek as well as Star Trek: The Animated Series and seven Star Trek films, is 94 years old.
Starfleet Academy premiered on the Paramount+ streaming service on Thursday, and stars Holly Hunter, seen in the clip shared by Miller, as Captain Nahla Ake of the USS Athena.
Star Trek has long demonstrated creator Gene Roddenberry’s progressive values, with the show offering critiques of systemic oppression and breaking new ground with moments like broadcasting one of the first interracial kisses on television between William Shatner’s Kirk and Nichelle Nichols’ Uhura in 1968.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller in the Oval Office at the White House on May 6, 2025 in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, never one to miss an opportunity to take aim at the Trump White House, responded to Miller’s complaint with a quip referencing his role as architect of the Trump administration’s harsh immigration policies: “Stephen Miller saw an alien on the bridge and started drafting an executive order.”
The owner of Paramount, billionaire nepo-baby David Ellison, has been criticized for cozying up to President Donald Trump following the merger between his company, Skydance Media, and Paramount last July.
Prior to the merger, which needed the approval of Trump’s ICC chairman Brendan Carr, Paramount settled a lawsuit with the president, agreeing to pay him $16 million in order to do so, and cancelled Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show, in what many saw as an effort to ensure the merger would be approved.
David Ellison’s acquisition of Paramount, CBS’ parent company, was approved by the FCC following a $16 million settlement with Trump. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
Following the merger, Ellison installed the MAGA-curious founder of The Free Press Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News. Since her appointment, Weiss has transformed the once-respected news network, overseeing changes to reporting that are more sympathetic to the Trump administration, even going so far as to prevent the release of 60 Minutes reports that may paint the White House in an unflattering light.
Stephen Miller suggested that ‘reconciling’ with William Shatner and giving him full creative control over the series was the only way to save the show. Paras Griffin/Getty Images
Her efforts have caused significant concern, with George Clooney telling Variety last month, “Bari Weiss is dismantling CBS News as we speak.” Clooney played celebrated CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow in both the stage and screen versions of Good Night, and Good Luck.
The Trump administration has attempted to openly influence Paramount’s creative decisions before, with Trump himself reportedly leaning on Ellison to produce a fourth film in the Rush Hour franchise.