The West Wing’s President Bartlet offers Donald Trump some advice

With the world seemingly falling apart at the seams, and political upheaval rife in the United States, there’s one fictional character that television fans know could help to bring the people back together again. I’m of course referring to President Josiah Bartlet from ‘The West Wing’.

During the show’s seven season run, President Bartlet didn’t just name the first female Chief Justice, but also the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice, as well as creating millions of new jobs, and even negotiating a peace settlement between Israel and Palestine. These successes suggest that he’d have some words of wisdom to pass down to Donald Trump. But when Martin Sheen, who played the character throughout ‘The West Wing’, was asked how President Bartlet would react to the current Commander In Chief he refused to see the funny side.

“If it wasn’t so serious, it would be funny to joke about how President Bartlet is more qualified than Trump in every possible way. But it’s tragic,” Martin Sheen insisted. “Trump and his administration are rank amateurs. Their agenda is extremely dangerous, frankly. They are the gang that can do a lot of damage and they have already started it. They came out of the gate and made it very clear that they want to upset the apple cart, and it’s caused great distress all over the country and all over the world.

Martin Sheen was nowhere near done with his comments on Donald Trump, as he continued, “He has no humanity, and my hope is that he would have compassion. He does not have that sense of transcendence. He doesn’t seem to have any interest or training in reflection to understand self-worth.”

This did lead the 76-year-old actor to try and part with some wisdom for Donald Trump, though. But it’s unlikely to be anything that Trump actually listens to, as Sheen declared to Vanity Fair, “My advice to him is to open his eyes to get a feel for other people and their cultures.”

Yet, despite all of the current problems that are blighting the hugely divided United States Of America, Martin Sheen believes that some good has genuinely come out of it. “I think the bright side is he has caused a lot of people to stand up, who ordinarily might not do so. That’s very encouraging. People are getting involved in all the issues and there are plenty of issues to stand up for.”

Just imagine how much more they’d be invested, and how many more people would join them, if Josiah Bartlet himself, Martin Sheen, decided to run against Donald Trump in the 2020 election. One can dream. In the meantime, do yourselves a favour, and re-watch ‘The West Wing’ to see how a President really should act.