Aaron Sorkin wrote a letter to his 15-year-old daughter openly criticizing President-elect Donald Trump for the type of supporters he has attracted.
“Hate was given hope,” the “West Wing” creator wrote in the letter, which was published by Vanity Fair. “Abject dumbness was glamorized as being ‘the fresh voice of an outsider’ who’s going to ‘shake things up.’
Sorkin then pointed out that the stock market dropped significantly the night of the election as uncertainty about Trump spread throughout the world. He also spoke of the fear being experienced now by groups like Muslim-Americans, African-Americans, and Latinos.
“Here’s what we’ll do. We’ll f—ing fight. (Roxy, there’s a time for this kind of language and it’s now.),” he wrote. “We’re not powerless and we’re not voiceless.”
“America didn’t stop being America last night and we didn’t stop being Americans and here’s the thing about Americans: Our darkest days have always–always–been followed by our finest hours,” he continued.
He also predicted that Trump “couldn’t make it a year” without committing an offense worthy of impeachment, and that he looks forward to four years from now when his daughter will be able to vote for the first time.
Sorkin closed by invoking his own father, who fought in World War II and came home to a country that helped him build a better life for his family.
“I will not hand his granddaughter a country shaped by hateful and stupid men,” he said. “Your tears last night woke me up, and I’ll never go to sleep on you again.”