Adam’s been rewatching The West Wing, the Aaron Sorkin political drama from the late ’90s/early 2000s starring Martin Sheen as fictional Democratic president Jed Bartlet — and says it holds up as an oddly precise mirror of 2026. His specific example: season 5, episode 4, where Bartlet jokes about just running for a third term, the same kind of line that gets Trump pilloried in the press. Adam’s point is that nearly everything Trump catches heat for saying out loud, Bartlet also says or does on the show — he just says it privately, among his own staff, rather than in public. Press secretary C.J. Craig then spins it into a clean, palatable version for the reporters, who write it down without pushing back. Same substance, two very different outcomes, depending on whether it’s said in the open or managed behind closed doors first.
Watch: it’s recently returned to Netflix in the US; also available to rent or buy on Prime Video and Apple TV.
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[No Agenda #1908 2:00:00]
