Aaron Sorkin, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of the Social Network and creator of the popular political series The West Wing, has written a letter to his wife and 15-year-old daughter after the election of Donald Trump, in which he calls on them to “fight injustice” anywhere they see it.

The letter, which is addressed to “Sorkin Girls”, focuses on the potential pitfalls of a Trump victory as well as the importance of keeping hope in the face of difficulty.

“Well the world changed late last night in a way I couldn’t protect us from,” Sorkin writes in the letter published by Vanity Fair. “That’s a terrible feeling for a father. I won’t sugarcoat it – this is truly horrible.

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“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.”

Sorkin goes on to lament that it was not just Trump who won but his supporters too, including the Ku Klux Klan as well as “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 … men who have no right to call themselves that and who think women who aspire to more than looking hot are shrill, ugly and otherwise worthy of our scorn rather than our admiration.”

Hate, he writes, was given hope, and “abject dumbness” was glamorised as the voice of the outsider. “And the world took no time to react. The Dow futures dropped 7,000 points overnight. Economist are predicting a deep and prolonged recession. Our Nato allies are in a state of legitimate fear. And speaking of fear, Muslim-Americans [sic], Mexican-Americans and African-Americans are shaking in their shoes. And we’d be right to note than many of Donald Trump’s fans are not fans of Jews.”



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Donald Trump smiles as he arrives to speak at an election night rally in New York. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

The West Wing detailed the inner workings of government and followed the two-term presidency of Jed Bartlet, a Democrat from New Hampshire – played by Martin Sheen – who was characterised by his fierce intellect, integrity and wit.

The drama, which won three Golden Globe awards and 26 Emmys in its seven-year run from 1999-2006, detailed the difficulties of executing power, and was often idealistic in its depiction of good triumphing over evil.

The 1600 Pennsylvania imagined by Sorkin could not be more different from the one expected under Trump. President Bartlet, a Nobel prize-winning economist, was in favour of foreign aid and immigration, pushed for progressive social policies and put a Latino liberal in the supreme court.

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In the letter, Sorkin advises his daughter, Roxy, and her mother, Julia, to remember that they are not alone, that a hundred million people in America and a billion more around the world feel similarly. “The Trumpsters want to see people like us (Jewish, ‘coastal elites’, educated, socially progressive, Hollywood …) sobbing and wailing and talking about moving to Canada,” he writes. “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 cheque 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.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jed Bartlet in The West Wing. Photograph: NBCUPHOTOBANK / Rex Features

Recently, the cast of The West Wing, including Richard Schiff, Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, Joshua Malina, Dulé Hill and Mary McCormack, reunited in Ohio to campaign for Hillary Clinton. Sorkin, meanwhile, who is also the mastermind of the series The Newsroom, concludes his letter by writing that throughout American history the darkest of days have always been followed by the 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.”