Let me begin by saying that I, like each self-respecting political junkie, have watched and adored The West Wing — all seven seasons, a number of occasions.
So earlier than you roll your eyes and assume right here we go once more, one other musings-on-Sorkin piece, let me declare it plainly: the present stays as shut as fashionable tv will get to pure, unadulterated political catnip
It’s turn into a common language, a lot so that each English-speaking politician from Tony Blair and David Cameron to Canada’s Justin Trudeau has insisted, sooner or later, on evaluating themselves to President Josiah Bartlet and his merry band of idealistic staffers.
The starry-eyed, walk-and-talk-laden world that Aaron Sorkin conjured up has seduced even the loftiest of coverage heavies. Tony Blair’s love for it was famously well-documented: apparently No.10 as soon as invited John Spencer – the late, nice Leo McGarry – to interrupt bread with Blair’s real-life chief of workers, Aaron Sorkin. One wonders if additionally they tried to rope in Martin Sheen to provide them a kind of hovering, paternal pep talks that all the time ended with him sauntering down the hall whereas rousing orchestral chords hammered house the purpose.
And let’s not overlook Invoice Clinton’s adviser, Gene Spurling, who was not solely a number one coverage thoughts however served as an skilled adviser on the present. Blair’s workplace invited him to dinner too, bridging that hole between fiction and actuality so seamlessly that one may need anticipated C.J. Cregg to stroll in and transient them on the day by day disaster. The West Wing was the political cleaning soap du jour. It gave politicos the identical rush a teenage pop fan would possibly get from assembly the whole lineup of their favorite band backstage. For a sure era, it was cultural foreign money — and, crucially, it made politics look downright cool, one thing that was in desperately quick provide.
Quick-forward to 2017 (or certainly 2025, if we’re trying again and counting the years of remorse). Enter Donald Trump as President. The query arises: how far eliminated is he from the luminous Sorkin universe? Trump is the antithesis of Bartlet, proper? The brash spectacle, the Twitter rants, the desire for punchy, provocative soundbites over nuanced, reasoned debate — all of it appears anathema to the measured, idealistic, legislative artistry that Sorkin’s scripts so worshipfully championed. President Bartlet was a Notre Dame economics professor with a Nobel Prize, a person who’d pour over reams of knowledge earlier than making the slightest peep. Trump? Undoubtedly not scribbling cross-charts of comparative benefit within the Oval Workplace.
And but, watch fastidiously, and also you’ll discover moments of The West Wing in Trump’s presidency, whether or not we prefer it or not. The genius of Sorkin’s masterpiece lay in its skill to show the day by day drudgery of politics into compelling drama — the massive set-piece speeches, the grand pronouncements, the workers’s unwavering devotion to their man. Trump’s White Home won’t do delicate, however it actually goes large. And it’s that aptitude for drama, that showmanship, which paradoxically echoes the ability The West Wing had over its viewers. In an odd manner, Trump turned the actual West Wing into one thing extra akin to a actuality present, with cliffhangers each week and the press corps eternally breathless. We would not prefer it, however it’s obtained its personal narrative arcs that may make Sorkin, in some weird alternate universe, nod in recognition.
In the meantime, throughout the pond, we’ve got to surprise if Keir Starmer’s persons are busy understanding which streaming platform the present continues to be on within the UK or hitting up eBay for the DVD’s and a Participant to play them on for some marathon session forward of technique conferences. You may nearly think about a staffer breathlessly proclaiming: “We need to find our ‘Let Bartlet be Bartlet’ moment!” Certainly, based on The Instances, the phrase “Let Starmer be Starmer” has simply strolled into mainstream commentary. Let’s not overlook it was “Let Bartlet be Bartlet” that grew to become a rallying cry within the present — a reminder for our expensive President Jed Bartlet to be his personal greatest self. Now we’re listening to it of Starmer, and maybe that’s the closest one will get to a very British model of Sorkin’s aptitude. The noble counsel, the rousing phrase, the vow to not compromise. Sean Kemp quipped on Twitter this morning that this contemporary little bit of Starmer-lore completes “whatever the fourth goal of a hat trick is called.” Exactly.
However, other than comedic parallels, one of the crucial intriguing endorsements of The West Wing got here from Justin Trudeau who admitted on The West Wing Weekly podcast that he discovered the present completely relatable, proper all the way down to the on a regular basis grind of the job and the ephemeral “moments of moral clarity.” He even boasted that he used a 2002 Bartlet debate scene — , the one the place the President annihilates his opponent’s shallow “10-word” solutions — as prep for his personal contests. And, honest play to him, it labored. Trudeau pranced into workplace with youthful swagger and rhetorical imaginative and prescient. But, as occasions have proven, the actual political stage can’t be so finely scripted, nor can all the longer term’s curveballs be condensed into a quick Sorkin speech.
The attract of that Sorkin speech, although, is one thing no political obsessive can fairly resist. Take a fast spin by way of the very best 5 minutes of any political programme, the opening scene of Sorkin’s The Newsroom (there’s a conveniently viral clip on YouTube, if you happen to’ve obtained 5 minutes). There’s Jeff Daniels as Will McAvoy, cornered into an uncomfortably direct reply, launching right into a blistering monologue about why America isn’t the best nation on the planet. It’s uncooked, it’s electrical, it’s borderline heretical, and it’s how a fantastic many political onlookers secretly lengthy for politicians to talk: with honesty untainted by spin, delivering zingers that’d knock James Carville’s socks off. However in actual life, that model of oratory is as uncommon as hen’s tooth — particularly now that spin itself has turn into a zero-sum sport, the lifeblood of the everlasting marketing campaign. The one British politician who does come shut is Nigel Farage, which could clarify why he’s now gaining in polls for his common-people direct type.
So right here we’re, many years into the mania for Sorkin’s seminal drama, and it stays the shining, unattainable normal for political conduct. It’s nonetheless quoted in press briefings, dinner events, and, sure, Prime Minister’s Questions. The notion that each new prime minister (or certainly president) may be the subsequent Jed Bartlet has confirmed extra ephemeral than the soggy phrase “the new normal.” But, sarcastically, that may be a part of The West Wing’s enduring genius: it offered not the actual political sphere however the best. It’s an allegory for a way we want politics may very well be — high-minded, passionate, and infused with ethical readability — and never the way it often is, stuffed with low cost jibes and shady negotiations behind closed doorways.
So how removed from The West Wing is Donald Trump? It’s tempting to say 1,000,000 miles, that Sorkin’s measured erudition and Trump’s brash staccato merely don’t communicate the identical language. However I’m not completely positive. They share a way of showmanship, albeit on reverse ends of the rhetorical scale. Each delighted their respective audiences; Bartlet with refined ethical ardour, Trump with punchy populist jabs. If The West Wing taught us something, it’s that political theatre resonates deeply. We wish a giant, emotional story, a way of the ethical arc bending the proper manner (or no less than a way). Trump’s new presidency might be present of a really completely different kind, however a present it’s going to actually be. And maybe that’s the actual lesson: The West Wing confirmed how deeply politics and efficiency intersect. Whether or not you like the quicksilver repartee of Bartlet’s White Home or the combative streetfighter type of Trump’s, each are indelibly etched into fashionable political tradition.
Ultimately, I believe all these references to The West Wing in politics — from Blair’s dinner friends to Starmer’s rhetorical pep discuss, from Trudeau’s binge-watching will preserve surfacing for years to come back. So long as there are leaders who need to conjure that golden mixture of mind, appeal, and unstoppable ethical gravitas, Sorkin’s script will stay the Platonic best. And we’ll preserve measuring actual politicians by how far they fall quick. Or, in Trump’s case, by how far he soared off in a totally completely different route. One factor’s for positive: President Bartlet continues to be in that legendary hall, strolling and speaking, as related as ever. And lengthy could he stay so.
