Pittsburgh Shooting

Mass shootings are always horrific, but the shooting at the Tree of Life in Pittsburgh on Saturday has left me especially reeling. I live in that neighborhood – in Mr. Rogers neighborhood. Thankfully I did not know anyone who was killed personally, but I know people who worship there and who knew the dead intimately.

Since Saturday, I have had many thoughts and emotions. But, as might be expected from a WingNut such as myself, I keep thinking of The West Wing quotes.

First, when I heard Trump’s suggestion that if there were armed guards out front this might not have happened, I immediately thought of C.J in the aftermath of the shooting at the end of the first season. In In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part 2, she says : “There were 36 homicides last night. 480 sexual assaults. 3411 robberies. 3685 aggravated assaults, all at gun point. And if anyone thinks those crimes could have been prevented if the victims themselves had been carrying guns, I only remind you that the President of the United States was shot last night while surrounded by the best-trained armed guards in the history of the world.”

In addition, hearing that the suspect not only used an assault rifle but had over 20 guns, I think of Sam in the Pilot: “The 76 year old grandmother doesn’t defend herself with a modified AK-47 Assault Rifle, Larry. Unless she’s defending herself against Turkish rebels”

Second, the more I read about the anti-Semitic posts from the suspect, the more I thought back to President Bartlet in College Kids: “All I know for sure, all I know for certain, is that they weren’t born wanting to do this. There’s evil in the world, there’ll always be, and we can’t do anything about that. But there’s violence in our schools, too much mayhem in our culture, and we can do something about that.”

Third, as my Dad and I walked to a vigil on Saturday night, a reporter asked if we were concerned about retaliatory violence. My Dad said no, and I quoted the following from Toby’s Rabbi in Take this Sabbath Day: “We’ll sing not only to entertain our children but to be reminded by the Haggadah, the simple truth. That violence begets violence. Vengeance is not Jewish.”

May everyone who is hurting right now find some peace. If you need a place to start, look to your neighbors. If you need more, watch The West Wing.

Give Me Your Tired…

While watching Season 5’s episode “Han” in preparation for the next The West Wing Weekly Podcast the following lines from C.J. stood out. Given the current situation at the border, with children being ripped away from their parents, I agree with C.J. that I “don’t know who we are anymore.”

C.J.: We’ve certainly come a long way from give me your tired, your poor. If we don’t allow this defection, if we blithely exploit this young man’s ignorance then I don’t know who we are anymore.

C.J.: This young man’s asking for freedom. It’s what this country was built on; everyone’s from somewhere else, some place less free. That’s my argument.

Very Unique

Today’s The West Wing in Real Life moment is brought to you by the folks at Pod Save America. If you have not yet discovered this podcast I highly recommend it – it and The West Wing are about the only things that keep me relatively sane in this world right now.

On the May 1st episode “Zombie Correspondents Dinner” CNN’s Jake Tapper joined the conversation. You can listen to the full episode here, which you should definitely. Even if you don’t, you should at least listen to minutes 40:00-41:00 where they discuss how something cannot be “very unique.”

Remind you of someone?

Privacy

Yesterday, before Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony today about Facebook, Senators Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal introduced The CONSENT Act, which would have the FCC establish privacy protections for people who use Facebook, Google etc.

I guess Sam was right in The Short List (which aired in 1999) when he said the next 20 years would be about privacy:

The White House

On Monday Trump hosted the annual White House Easter Egg hunt. He gave a very bizarre speech (although what speech of his is not bizarre), during which he could not remember the name of The White House:

He said: “I want to thank the White House Historical Association and all the people who work so hard to keep this incredible house, or building or whatever you want to call it. Because there really is no name for it….It’s special and we keep it in tip-top shape. We call it sometimes ‘tippy-top shape’.”

As Seth Meyers pointed out “There’ s a name for it!, It’s the name everyone calls it! It’s the White House!…Trump’s talking about the most famous building in the world like a nervous tour guide on his first day.”

That of course made me think of the Pilot episode of TWW, when Sam gives a tour to Mallory’s class. After he messes up some of The White House history, Mallory calls him a moron. His version of White House history sounds amazing compared to Trump’s ramblings about the “building or whatever you want to call it.”

SAM: The White House, as you know, was built several years ago. Mostly, if I’m not mistaken, out of cement. The room we’re in right now, the Roosevelt Room, is very famous. It is named for our 18th President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The chairs that you’re sitting on today were fashioned from the lumber of a pirate ship captured during the Spanish-American–

…

MALLORY: I’m sorry to be rude, but are you a moron?

SAM: In this particular area, yes.

MALLORY: The 18th President was Ulysses S. Grant, and the Roosevelt Room was named for Theodore.

SAM: Really?

MALLORY: There’s like a six-foot painting on the wall of Teddy Roosevelt.

SAM: I should’ve put two and two together…look, the thing is, while there are really a great many things I can speak with authority, I’m not good at talking about the White House.

Shutdown

In honor (I guess? not sure that is right word) of the Shutdown, I watched  the season 5 episodes “Seperation of Powers” and “Shutdown.” In The West Wing, ultimately President Bartlet is able to negotiate a budget and it hurts the Republican Congress. I very much doubt that Trump can negotiate a budget, but I do hope this hurts the Republicans. Specifically, I hope the line that the Speaker of the House says to President Bartlet in “Seperation of Powers” holds true for Trump:

HAFFLEY: Let’s be clear, sir…You will be held responsible for shutting down the federal government.

I hope Trump, Ryan, and McConnell are all held responsible.

Tell All Book

Today a tell all book my Michael Wolff about the Trump campaign comes out. Trump tried to prevent publication, earlier this week issuing a cease and desist order.

This whole thing made me think of the storyline in Season 3’s H.Con – 172, where Sam is hard at work trying to discredit a tell all book by a former White House staffer. He insists that they have to refute every bogus claim in the book, and finally C.J. tells him the following:

C.J.: Let me tell you something I’ve learned in my years. There are victims of
fires. There are victims of car accidents. This kind of thing, there are no victims–just
volunteers. Of course we’ll get in the game. I’ll talk to the editors of the major papers
but we’re not going to publicly refute every bogus charge. First of all, there are
too many of them. Second of all, I’m not going to give this guy and his book the weight of
the White House. As far as the press is concerned I’ve read the book because I had to. You
have a vague recollection of the guy but he wasn’t here long enough to make a lasting
impression. Have you read the book? Of course not. You’re too busy doing a job.

Clearly neither Trump nor Sarah Sanders holds the same view, and clearly neither are “too busy doing a job.”

Turkey Pardoning

Usually I blog about how the yearly turkey pardoning makes me think about Season Two’s episode “Shibboleth”. This year, however, while reading The New York Times article about Trump’s turkey pardoning I just thinking “I can’t wait to watch The West Wing – I need a break from reality.”

While President Bartlet recognized that he had “really no judicial jurisdiction over birds”, Trump does not realize that.

According to the NYT article: “‘I feel so good about myself,’ the president said softly, appraising his own clemency, laying a hand on the bird after seeking permission to touch it from turkey professionals.

Time for some West Wing. Happy Thanksgiving all!

Private Jets

From Season 2’s “The Fall’s Gonna Kill You”:

There's a West Wing episode where Sam doesn't want to put a line in a speech about the GOP cutting taxes for rich people to buy private jets because it's too cartoonish. It makes the GOP sound evil.

It's too mean to Republicans. For an Aaron Sorkin character.

And here we are. https://t.co/nFRcu3um7t

— Micolash, Host of the Nightmare (@evilgenius815) November 17, 2017

25th Amendment

Recently, there have been reports that “when Bannon raised the 25th Amendment as a concern, Trump responded by asking, “What’s that?” Specifically, it appears that Bannon was talking about the part of the 25th Amendment that allows a President’s cabinet to vote to remove him from office.

Although on The West Wing President Bartlet stepped down (as opposed to his cabinet removing him) when his daughter was kidnapped, I still thought that perhaps someone should tell Trump to watch the Season 4 Finale, Twenty-Five, to learn about the 25 Amendment. Or you know, read Wikipedia.