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Letter Aaron Sorkin Wrote His Daughter After Donald Trump Was Elected President

I’ve always liked Aaron Sorkin’s shows, especially The West Wing and Newsroom.  Here is what he says about Donald Trump.  This is letter published on Vanity Fair’s website

American screenwriter Aaron Sorkin attends the "London Film Critics' Circle Film Awards" at BFI Southbank in London on February 10, 2011. UPI/Rune Hellestad

American screenwriter Aaron Sorkin

Read the Letter Aaron Sorkin Wrote His Daughter After Donald Trump Was Elected President  – The Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Social Network and mastermind behind The West Wing reacts to Donald Trump being elected the 45th president of the United States in a moving letter written to his 15-year-old daughter Roxy and her mother Julia Sorkin.

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 sugarcoat it—this is truly horrible. It’s hardly the first time my candidate didn’t win (in fact it’s the sixth time) but it is the first time that a thoroughly incompetent pig with dangerous ideas, a serious psychiatric disorder, no knowledge of the world and no curiosity to learn has.

And 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.” (Did anyone bother to ask how? Is he going to re-arrange the chairs in the Roosevelt Room?) For the next four years, the President of the United States, the same office held by Washington and Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, F.D.R., J.F.K. and Barack Obama, will be held by a man-boy who’ll spend his hours exacting Twitter vengeance against all who criticize him (and those numbers will be legion). We’ve embarrassed ourselves in front of our children and the world.

And the world took no time to react. The Dow futures dropped 700 points overnight. Economists are predicting a deep and prolonged recession. Our NATO allies are in a state of legitimate fear. And speaking of fear, Muslim-Americans, Mexican-Americans and African-Americans are shaking in their shoes. And we’d be right to note that many of Donald Trump’s fans are not fans of Jews. On the other hand, there is a party going on at ISIS headquarters. What wouldn’t we give to trade this small fraction of a man for Richard Nixon right now?

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.

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.

Love,

Dad (Aaron Sorkin)

59 replies »

  1. I came across this post this week, thought I’d share. I think it is poignant and funny, I thought a great read. (if it’s too long, I apologize)

    “In 2008, Oprah and Will Smith yelled and screamed and high-fived each other over how amazing the Obama presidency was going to be.

    But then, we had a “beer summit” (that was odd). Then, a trillion dollar stimulus package …that turned into a deficit. Then a Tea Party. Then Occupy Wall Street. Then Ferguson, Baltimore, Sandy Hook, San Bernardino, Orlando, Chattanooga, Benghazi and Dallas. Then came Obamacare. And ISIS rose up in the middle east.

    Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Prince, David Bowie, Glenn Frey, Merle Haggard and Steve Jobs ALL died during the Obama presidency. Peyton Manning retired. American Idol got cancelled. Tornadoes still ravaged trailer parks in the mid west and hurricanes still chewed up beaches. Several people got eaten by sharks. Brad and Angelina broke up. Kanye West and Kim Kardashian procreated. Smart phones blew up in people’s pockets. We had, like, six hundred Country Music award shows …and Bruce Jenner is now a woman.

    Some of that you can blame on President Obama and some of it …you can’t. It shows that presidents can affect a lot. But life is going to suck sometimes, no matter who the guy is in charge.

    Speaking of the country …it elected a new president last night. Some people are too happy …and some are too sad. The anger and vitriol we all thought (and prayed) would end, once the ballots were cast, seems to only be ratcheting up. I suppose it’s easy to call for everyone to accept the will of the people when you think your candidate is going to win.

    Nevertheless, the thing about presidents elect is you can never really know what you’re about to get. I always chuckle at those press questions in a campaign, “what qualifies you to be president?” The truth is NOTHING qualifies ANYONE for that job. Maybe being a governor of a big state …maybe not. Until they take you in that back room and brief you on how bad it really is, you can’t know how you’re going to govern.

    I have no idea what kind of President Mr Trump will be. We can never know these things. But I always give first timers the benefit of the doubt. I would’ve done the same thing for Mrs Clinton. I definitely did for Mr Obama …and it’s in print somewhere.

    What I DON’T believe is that we’re about to turn into Nazi Germany (and I’ve read some posts from people who actually believe that). I don’t think we’re going to roll back to the 1950s in our social order. If Donald Trump is anything, he’s as immersed in current pop culture as Miley Cyrus. A man who was a regular guest on Howard Stern isn’t going to be interested in a puritanical revival of any kind. He’s not coming after “the gays” or the “transgender.” To the contrary, when Caitlyn Jenner (formerly the aforementioned Bruce) asked him where she could use the restroom in his hotel, his answer was “use which ever one you feel comfortable in.”

    The point is, we might be projecting some of our own irrational fears onto a man who is definitely flawed …but probably not evil incarnate.

    The “educated” among us are reminding us how utterly stupid the country is for voting for this man, while simultaneously wringing their hands, melting down emotionally and predicting Armageddon (like …for real). They may be right about it all …but they may be wrong.

    I am not moving to Canada. I am not going underground. I refuse to sling insults at people who voted one way or another and become a caricature of a petty, ignorant American. In this country if you run and get the votes …you get to be president. That’s still a good thing …even if you don’t like the result.

    For the Hillary supporters …pull yourselves together. Please. Some of you are embarrassing yourselves. For the Trump supporters …some of you are too. A little grace and humility might be in order. You just elected Donald J Trump as your nation’s president …and he was once a part of Wrestle Mania.

    Still, I believe in the ability of people to surprise you. And I, for one, am going to give this man some room to prove that.

    There are not a lot of choices left.

    R”
    https://regiehammblog.wordpress.com/2016/11/09/president-trump/

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  2. First, I have to say that Cee, in my humble opinion, you have been intelligent and even-tempered in your replies to comments here; whether you agreed with them or not, and I applaud you for that. In reading Mr. Sorkin’s message, my first thought is how much intelligence and thought does it take to call a person and a whole group of people vicious names? It seems to be the standard for the folks that disagree with the outcome of the election. Well, really even before then. I’ve seen it over and over again. It makes me sad to read yet another spewing of venom towards people who have a different perspective.
    I didn’t vote for Obama either time. I was sad when he won, but I accepted it and squared my shoulders for the unknown future to come. And it’s what I would’ve done if Clinton had won, not rant and call her supporters all sorts of names. She was their choice and that’s how it goes. Trump wasn’t my first or even fourth choice, but he ended up being my only choice. We’re all in this together and we’ll make it through together, just like we have in the past. People like Mr. Sorkin make it more difficult by supporting hate for his fellow Americans. Thank you for letting me post my opinion on your blog.

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  3. Very powerful letter… One I don’t think I could write. Despite not being a huge Trump supporter or fan, he won and now we have support him whether we like it or not… It remains to be seen what he gets accomplished in four years… Before we know it, we’ll be electing a new president… Time is flying by us very quickly and hopefully, we can elect a competent candidate next time around…

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    • I doubt if I could have written the letter he did. But if you know of Aaron Sorkin’s works….it is him. He always looks at all side and then decides for himself and his belief in the constitution is obvious.

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  5. We need to start acting.
    My letter: President Obama,
    I am worried that under the rule of Trump our country will start becoming like North Korea. Bigotry and oppression will take over. I hope you will not welcome or back Trump. I am very much afraid for our future. I plan to join others in protesting. It would be wonderful to have your help and support.

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  7. It is a strange thing that I have yet to come across a ‘Yippee, yahoo, we won!’ amongst all the blogs within my ken. Are the Trump fans all illiterate?

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  8. Sounds like we went back a couple of centuries…..
    Our only hope is just the Staff , now…………………….

    Though I’m not American, I used “we” as a pronoun… I feel i ‘m a World Citizen!

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  10. I love the West Wing. It’s the presidency we wanted. The presidency we wished for. And the dialogue — we’ve watched the entire series at least three times — is truly glorious. This election has taken a lot out of me. It’s personal, painful, and frightening. We are a mixed family of gay, straight, black, Jewish and well … everything. We are some of the people who feel we have targets on our backs. It’s not going to be an easy few years to come. Pretty much everyone I know is upset, angry, worried, depressed, and scared. Me too. Which is exactly WHY I need to back off — and remember how to laugh.

    Liked by 2 people

  11. A lot of people feel that T did not get to where he is if he weren’t smart. I don’t see any of the smartness in his many words I have been hearing, but the general consensus among his more ‘informed’ and ‘rational’ supporters is that he is smart enough to realise his ignorance and will therefore assign the right people to do the right thing for the country. I hope to hell that they are right and my gut feeling is wrong. I am not American and do not live in America, but American policies, (especially w.r.t. environmental issues and political interactions) can make or kill the world.

    Good luck.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. I don’t know why Trump won, but is it helpful at this point to divide America further by characterising the supporters of the next president as being members of The Klan, sexists, racists, buffoons and misogynistic shitheads? And does Mr Sorkin not realise that if, as he says, more than 59 million Americans voted for hate and abject dumbness, it doesn’t say much for America. I agree with Trisha on this. There were serious reasons why people voted not just for Trump, but against the establishment, and surely this is the time to work out what those reasons were and try to fix what so many people perceived as broken.

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  15. Did anyone notice how in his acceptance speech, there was an immediate turn around? He said “it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division” and “come together as one united people”. Well if that’s not contradictory to the campaign he’s been running for the last year, I don’t know what is. Did he just go against his campaign platform to kick out all Muslims, latinos, etc. in his acceptance speech?

    Liked by 1 person

      • Oh yes it’s definitely a good sign. But then the fact that his staff had to take away his Twitter account in the last week… I mean it’s the future President we’re talking about here. If he’s not even mature enough to tweet responsibly… who do we have on our hands?!

        Liked by 2 people

  16. I think I should rewatch West Wing. Sorkin was always a great writer.

    That being said, the election is over. I don’t like the result. I’m worried and scared of the future. I don’t need help being more scared, angry, or depressed. I personally need to detach from the negativity and recharge my batteries. Maybe things are not going to be as bad as we fear. If they are, we’ll do whatever we need to when we need to do it, but obsessing about it before anything happens is unhealthy.

    Most of us are not going anywhere. We have nowhere to go. Nowhere to run. This is our home and we will live here, so let’s hope this isn’t the apocalypse and there is life after Trump. Because, as someone said earlier today, wishing Trump to be a really bad president is like hoping the pilot of the plane you and all your friends are on, will crash and burn.

    America is our plane. We are all on it. Together.

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    • I doubt seriously if it will be an apocalypse. Trump may not know how to edit what comes out of his mouth, but the majority of politicians (on either side) do. I know I wouldn’t want to be his Press Secretary or Chief of Staff. We will all survive and with the controversy he has started I believe We will come out stronger for it.

      Sorkin from his writing has strong morals and ethics. In my opinion, he shows the compromises and strength it takes to follow the constitution. I love West Wing because of it. Sorkin really shows all sides of a situation and shows how the constitution prevails. He also shows smart people doing the right and wrong things at times because none of are perfect. But by the end of the series and many times thought the series he shows a lot pride for the US and the decisions makers … even with a few bad apples or moments happen.

      Liked by 2 people

  17. Oh my, I feel sorry for his daughter! What a hateful rambling of intolerance and animosity. I was not a Trump supporter either, but I fail to see how this kind of attitude is helpful to children. He is not setting a very good example!

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  18. What a brilliant letter. I’m not an American but I am affected by the election of the distasteful man but the thought that he could very well be impeached gives me some hope he won’t be allowed to instigate a terrible catastrophe.

    Liked by 2 people

  19. I agree with what Trisha said, as relates to the reason many of the people who voted for Trump chose him. But there are those whose motives were not so pure. One of the very sad things about this embarrassment (yes it is an embarrassment) is that congress is more to blame for how things are then the president. There is a huge outcry about Obamacare – remember how he asked Congress if anyone had a better plan? Remember how no one came forward? And now we have a Republican Congress – not known for championing little guys like us who are the ones hurting. Maybe we should have considered this before we voted.

    Liked by 2 people

  20. I am not a fan of Donald Trump but many of my friends and family are. I made myself listen to how they were feeling and I came to understand why they would not vote for four more years of the downward spiral they’ve been in. People are struggling under higher taxes and health care costs and they feel forgotten and betrayed by politicians on both sides. Most are good people who are just doing their best to support their families. They’re not stupid, racist, buffoons or shitheads. There are plenty of those out there, on both sides and, unfortunately, those are the ones who are the loudest, who get the press coverage. In my humble opinion, the things this guy says in this letter are just as hateful as anything I ever heard come out of Donald Trump’s mouth. I hope he rethinks teaching his daughter to hate and judge people just because they don’t agree with him.

    Liked by 1 person

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