‘The West Wing’ Creator Aaron Sorkin Slams Trump, Defends ‘Out of Touch’ Elites
Image by Getty
By Thea Glassman February 21, 2017
Aaron Sorkin had politics on his mind during Sunday’s Writers Guild of America Awards.
The “The West Wing” creator took to the stage to accept the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement, and had some choice words about the current administration.
“We’ve been told that as coastal elites we’re something less than real Americans and that we’re out of touch,” he said. “If you find it mind boggling that living and working in the two largest cities in America make you less American, you’re not the one who is out of touch.”
The screenwriter went onto list all the other ways liberals are not out of touch, including their stances on climate change, immigration and voter fraud.
“If you don’t find it remotely credible that three to five million people voted illegally in our last election, you’re not the one who’s out of touch,” Sorkin said. “If you [don’t] think climate change is a global hoax being perpetrated by unscrupulous Chinese scientists in cahoots with every other scientist in a cunning long-con to get grant money, you’re not the one who’s out of touch.”
He added: “If you don’t think that turning away people who are seeking a safe haven from unspeakable brutality is a morally defensible idea, then you’re not the one who’s less than a real American.”
Then, Sorkin turned to action. He put out a rallying cry for writers to tell their stories, no matter what their party affiliation is.
“We come from everywhere. We are old and young, black and white, gay and straight, wealthy and struggling, and yes, liberal and conservative,” he said. “The most powerful delivery system ever invented for an idea is a story, and we’re America’s storytellers, and my dream of being one of you has come true.”
Watch his speech in full below:
Thea Glassman is an Associate Editor at the Forward. Reach her at glassman@forward.com
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
