The cast of The West Wing, including Martin Sheen as Josiah 'Jed' Bartlett. Picture: Supplied
THE creator of The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin, has written a poignant letter to his family after Donald Trump’s victory.
Sorkin, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Social Network, wrote the letter to his 15-year-old daughter, Roxy, and her mother, Julia, after the election of Donald Trump, calling on them to “fight injustice” anywhere they see it.
Aaron Sorkin holds the award he was given for Best Screenplay — Motion Picture for The Social Network at the Golden Globe Awards in 2011. Picture: APSource:AP
Roxy Sorkin and Aaron Sorkin attend the premiere of The Newsroom Season 3 in 2014. Picture: GettySource:Supplied
They are words that you could imagine Sorkin’s fictional president Josiah ‘Jed’ Bartlett saying in The West Wing.
The letter, published in Vanity Fair, has since gone viral as people look to explanations about why Mr Trump was elected and what it means for the US and the rest of the world.
Martin Sheen's Josiah Bartlett in The West Wing was a liberal hero to all. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied
“Sorkin Girls, Well the world changed late last night in a way I couldn’t protect us from. That’s a terrible feeling for a father. I won’t sugar-coat it — this is truly horrible,” he starts the letter. “It wasn’t just Donald Trump who won last night — it was his supporters too. The Klan won last night. White nationalists. Sexists, racists and buffoons. Angry young white men who think rap music and Cinco de Mayo are a threat to their way of life (or are the reason for their way of life) have been given cause to celebrate.
“Men who have no right to call themselves that and who think that women who aspire to more than looking hot are shrill, ugly, and otherwise worthy of our scorn rather than our admiration struck a blow for misogynistic shitheads everywhere. Hate was given hope. Abject dumbness was glamorized as being ‘the fresh voice of an outsider’ who’s going to ‘shake things up.’”
“So what do we do? First of all, we remember that we’re not alone. A hundred million people in America and a billion more around the world feel exactly the same way we do.
Second, we get out of bed. The Trumpsters want to see people like us (Jewish, “coastal elites,” educated, socially progressive, Hollywood …) sobbing and wailing and talking about moving to Canada. I won’t give them that and neither will you,” he said. “We’ll f***ing fight. (Roxy, there’s a time for this kind of language and it’s now.) We’re not powerless and we’re not voiceless. We don’t have majorities in the House or Senate but we do have representatives there. It’s also good to remember that most members of Trump’s own party feel exactly the same way about him that we do.
“We get involved. We do what we can to fight injustice anywhere we see it — whether it’s writing a cheque or rolling up our sleeves. Our family is fairly insulated from the effects of a Trump presidency so we fight for the families that aren’t. We fight for a woman to keep her right to choose. We fight for the First Amendment and we fight mostly for equality — not for a guarantee of equal outcomes but for equal opportunities. We stand up.
“America didn’t stop being America last night and we didn’t stop being Americans and here’s the thing about Americans: Our darkest days have always — always — been followed by our finest hours,” he wrote. “Roxy, I know my predictions have let you down in the past, but personally, I don’t think this guy can make it a year without committing an impeachable crime. If he does manage to be a douche nozzle without breaking the law for four years, we’ll make it through those four years. And three years from now we’ll fight like hell for our candidate and we’ll win and they’ll lose and this time they’ll lose for good. Honey, it’ll be your first vote.
“The battle isn’t over, it’s just begun. Grandpa fought in World War II and when he came home this country handed him an opportunity to make a great life for his family. I will not hand his granddaughter a country shaped by hateful and stupid men. Your tears last night woke me up, and I’ll never go to sleep on you again,” he ended the letter with ‘love dad’.
The cast of the West Wing. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied