By Tim Binnall
A Democratic Congressman announcing his bid for the White House in 2020 was surprisingly asked about how he'd respond to an alien invasion. The undoubtedly unexpected question was posed to Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts after he'd declared his candidacy for president on Monday and was subsequently interviewed by Buzzfeed as part of a series of media appearances. During this particular conversation, one of the hosts noted that the Congressman bears an uncanny resemblance to actor Bill Pullman, who famously played the president in the classic film Independence Day.
With that in mind, she asked: "if you were president during an alien invasion, what would your strategy be?" Although the question was clearly offered in jest, Moulton attempted to provide a serious answer to the hypothetical scenario which has become a pop culture trope. After joking that he would not build a wall between Earth and Mars, the Congressman explained that "you've always got to start with diplomacy."
Extrapolating on this idea Moulton explained that "what I would do with this alien is I would give him a classic American meal. I'd serve a beer and a burger." Should the extraterrestrial tete-a-tete be positive, he mused, "then it's all good." However, should thing turn sour, Moulton indicated that he'd reveal to the visitors that "by the way, that burger ... that's the last aliens that visited." We'll leave it up to the political pundits and social scientists to debate whether threatening to eat unfriendly ETs would be the wisest course of action in such a situation.
That said, it's worth noting that the question appears to be the first time the subject of UFOs or extraterrestrials has been broached in any fashion so far to the nearly two dozen Democratic candidates who are running in 2020. With the phenomenon being treated more seriously in recent years by the mainstream media and there seemingly being no shortage of presidential candidates to ask about the topic, one hopes that it won't be the last time it comes up on the campaign trail.