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

[babylonsister]

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/11/aaron-sorkin-donald-trump-president-letter-daughter?fbclid=IwAR0C7z_sbTho2Cu-j0pbU4ekcnT0g9D01n8_2hR_l0hbTE-knq68kruaysc


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.
by Aaron Sorkin
November 9, 2016 8:52 pm

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?

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. Here’s what we’ll do…

…we’ll fucking 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 make sure that the people we sent to Washington—including Kamala Harris—take our strength with them and never take a day off.

We get involved. We do what we can to fight injustice anywhere we see it—whether it’s writing a check 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.

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

[underpants]

1. They can handle the truth

Sorkin wrote “A Few Good Men” as well.

[NewJeffCT]

6. I've said this a bunch of times before

I'm waiting for Trump to have his moment where he admits to ordering the "Code Red" (aka, conspiring/colluding with Russia) in an angry tweet or in an apocalyptic rally...

[Volaris]

27. If he does, his base will fucking cheer.

Mark my words , they'll call it 'strong leadership', and rush and hannity will have jizzgasms live on air.

[FakeNoose]

31. So let them cheer - why should we care what idiots do?

The law is still on our side and we ARE the adults. Fun time is just about over kiddies.

[UpInArms]

2. That was beautifully said

Thank you for posting

[calimary]

35. He writes beautiful stuff.

[malaise]

3. He nailed it

Wish I could rec 500 times

[tanyev]

4. He also nailed it.

[malaise]

5. Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah hahahahha

I wonder if he did?

Thanks

[Buckeyeblue]

7. We had much the same talk in my house after the election

My kids were 13 and 11. They asked if we could move to another country. I told them moving somewhere else wouldn't change the fact that he was president. And the country needed us to continue being who we are. And that the country (and our state) needed us to vote.

Mostly I felt a little bad because I had told them the American public would never elect someone like Trump president. I was lying when I said but it was a complicated lie, because to explain the truth, I would have to go back to 1980 when my dad told me the American public would never elect an actor to be president. And I would have to go back to 2000 when I told my wife the American public would never elect someone as dumb as W to be president.

Politics, and the American public, are complicated things to discuss. But now I challenge my kids to not just say what Trump did or is doing is stupid. I challenge them to articulate why it's stupid. And to constantly get better at saying why it's stupid. Because the better you understand the why, the better you can articulate that in 2020 when we can vote him out.

Oh, and I tell them that the American public will never reelect this pig fucker (we use vibrant language in my house) president. But when I say that my kids--and my wife--just look at my with frowns on their faces.

[RVN VET71]

16. Eternal vigilance is the price.

Seriously, we can save the republic as long as we do not assume anything. After Trump sleazed his way into power, I finally realized that there is no bag of sh*t that millions, tens of millions of Americans won't eat. Trump is the worst. Bush, jr., is the second worst. And America is teetering on the edge of oblivion. Fortunately, there are tens of millions of rational Americans who are awake to the danger are putting up a fight. The good guys took the House back!

But the fight is only beginning. The worst thing we can do now is become complacent. It took enormous and widespread energy to beat the snot out of the corporate-fascists and seize control of the House. We absolutely must do the same for the Senate. And then, if Individual-1 is still alive and running for re-election, we have to beat him back to Moscow.

And don't forget, never forget, the power that rests in the state and local governments. We need to kick the corporate-fascists out of the governor's mansions and the state assemblies.

Keep our eye on the prize: freedom and dignity for every citizen of this country and for any and all who come here seeking asylum from murderous governments, gangs, and thugs. Individual-1 and his family of grifting traitors should go to jail and rot there -- but if they don't, it's a fact I could tolerate (begrudgingly, of course) as long as we get our country back.

[calimary]

37. That's what Mad-Eye Moody repeatedly warned Harry Potter. "CONSTANT vigilance!"

J. K. Rowling wrote it using a lot of capital letters.

[SammyWinstonJack]

38. We didn't elect him in 2016, he lost by 3+ million votes. A reality the MFer CAN'T handle.

[Heartstrings]

8. "Coastal Elite", "Hollywood"....

Man, I abhor those terms when used to negatively describe California! One of the most open-minded, kind, giving, accepting places I've ever lived....not to mention the beauty!

Good on you, Mr. Sorkin!

[SammyWinstonJack]

39. California, born and raised. It's a beautiful state. Miss it dearly, moreso after being stuck

in red state Tennessee and before that Texas for 20+yrs.

[justhanginon]

9. Excellent post. Thanks

[MontanaMama]

10. That made me cry.

Sounds like how my dad would’ve tried to bolster my spirits had he been alive for the 2016 election travesty.

[Hamlette]

11. love it

[Perseus]

12. Wow...What a beautiful letter

And the fact that he understands that she is a woman of fifteen years old, he doesn't treat her as a child, he talks to her through this letter knowing that she will understand.

He also made many predictions that have come true, and I know many of us made similar predictions, but he put it in writing at the right time.

[JohnnyRingo]

13. K&R

Thanx for posting.

[barbtries]

14. that's so sad.

trump didn't make it a day before he was committing impeachable crimes. It seems that Sorkin, like me, did not know at that time that the republicans in congress would violate their oaths, abandon their posts, and let him get away with any fucking thing he wanted. that's what they continue to do and here we are, on the precipice.

sigh.

[kag]

17. That's what I was thinking, barbtries.

I remember talking with my own family about how long it would be before he committed an impeachable offense in office (he committed many in order to get there), and worrying about how long it would take Congress to remove him. I didn't know at the time that they wouldn't even try; that the GOP would, in fact, enable this monster magat and block any chance to hold him accountable for his many crimes...even treason.

[barbtries]

21. yep.

bad enough being blindsided by the election result - since then it's an unending assault on my sensibilities and deepest beliefs about my country. it's been hard, and the final outcome is still to be known.

[RVN VET71]

18. The GOP is dead to me

For a very brief while I thought that there would be enough negative voices in the Republican Party, questioning and condemning Trump's actions and preachments, that he would be reined in and controlled by more rational minds. I was shocked and sickened by the active support he received from so many, and also by the silence -- which amounted to tacit agreement and support -- of so many others.

This past election, I voted straight Democrat. My state has a very good governor who seems very caring and compassionate, but he's a Republican. I did not and will not vote for him for the simple fact that he's a member of a Party led by a grifting corporate-fascist-traitor. Trump taints the GOP all the way down the line. The party is corrupt to its core. The party is unpatriotic to the point approaching treasonous at the top and down the line. It has become a party of greedy, shallow, cowardly russophiles.

[barbtries]

20. i just wish it would go away.

i've never voted republican. hate since nixon on to reagan and the bushes especially gw. I will never vote for a republican. Now there are many former republicans i watch and follow, but i am still baffled how they stayed there that long. others are speaking out truthfully and authoritatively but are still republicans - i don't get that.

[niyad]

15. "that small fraction of a man". . . perfect!!

[calimary]

36. No kidding!

[dlk]

19. Wise Words for Us All

[yonder]

22. Everyone of us knows how it felt waking up that next morning.

I wish we could have had those words for all of us.

These especially:

"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."

[FiveGoodMen]

24. "America didn't stop being America last night"

...but in November of '80.

[Honeycombe8]

23. What a wonderful letter. Insightful, well written, hopeful. nt

[mahina]

25. This is wonderful. Thank you. Shared.

[Anon-C]

26. A Few Good Men and one Awesome Dad!

[Docreed2003]

28. Beautiful and inspiring...k&r

[3catwoman3]

29. "...a man-boy who'll spend his hours exacting Twitter vengeance against all who criticize him."

Very succinct description of that vile cretin.

[MadDAsHell]

30. I thought the DOW was gonna tank under Drumpf too. Everyone was predicting that.

Unreal that it's somehow soared.

[FakeNoose]

32. Aaron Sorkin is a brilliant man and an awesome American writer

I'll save this because it's worth re-reading and sharing.

Thanks!

[AJT]

33. A perfect letter.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

34. "What wouldn't we give to trade this small fraction of a man for Richard Nixon right now?"

Thinking of the Nixon administration as "the good old days". Heck, W's administration was the good old days.

Let's bring some good new days.