Well, it’s Thanksgiving. Prior to the awful events yesterday in DC I’d posted a chippy article about Trump suffering not one but TWO bigly legal losses this week, so at least I (and you if you were looking for one) had something to be thankful for today. Alas, when I got going and checked the turkey breast in the fridge it was clear it needs another day to defrost. Ok, I could have put it in an ice bath to thaw it out but for reasons I won’t go into just cooking a modified Thanksgiving spread was going to be tough enough and I’ll just wait until tomorrow. And STILL have four days of lunch and dinners!
In the meantime I spent my early morning reflecting on yesterday’s attack on National Guard troops in DC. I won’t again go into how it never should have happened because they never should have been there in the first place. Hopefully by the time you sit down for your Thanksgiving meal we’ll have news that their chances of survival have improved. With all that in mind we need something good to think about. I’d already planned to do something like this and it seems we really need something positive and inspirational today. We sure as hell won’t get any such thing from Trump (nor would we have even without those Guard members being shot) so let’s look at the fictional President we can only wish would occupy our White House.
Martin Sheen has had quite the career from protagonist in Apocalypse Now, to a slimy wannabe Presidential candidate who meets an end I would love to see happen with Trump in The Dead Zone (the movie version) to his stint as President Bartlett in The West Wing. I loved that show, and there were so many profound and memorable moments I can’t even come up with a ‘short list’ of favorites. However I can sort of do so on certain topics and yes, one of those topics is Thanksgiving. Plenty of Thanksgiving moments come to mind but yes, some truly stand out. From humorous to deeply moving.
Let’s start with one that many fans (not me) rate as the best – the Butterball Hotline. Most of the senior staff is relieved to learn they won’t have to attend the President’s private gathering. The general sentiment is that they just wanted to pig out in casual clothes then watch football instead of a formal sit down listening to the President (the character loved showing off his vast intellect to the point of annoyance at times) give a history lesson, and regale the table with how he’d personally done the cooking of the turkey. A debate arose about stuffing and the correct temperature. It actually depends on whether stuff is put in the cavity of the turkey or in the roasting pan around it. In the former case extra care has to be taken (including a separate thermometer) to ensure it’s done. Getting that done without drying out the turkey itself is tricky.
Sheen/President Bartlett tells his ever present aide/’body man’ Charlie there should be some type of service staffed by experts should be created so people can call for advice on that and other Thanksgiving meal prep. Charlie tells him one already exists. After making sure Charlie isn’t yanking his chain Bartlett say to get him the number. His call goes into the queue and while he waits for his turn to speak to a rep keeps going about his business while on hold. His communications director Toby happens to be in the Oval Office when the rep comes on the line. Watch and enjoy:
The next clip is much more serious but inspirational as hell. At the beginning of the episode we learn a group of Chinese Christians who’d been persecuted for their faith had escaped on a cargo ship, existing in containers until discovered when the ship docked in southern California. Taken into custody by CPB a national and international dispute erupts. The major Christian Organization (a mostly better version of what existed in real life before Trump) wants them released. Their leader says he’ll personally pay the bond, and his reach is such all of them will get settled in good places and provided work. China of course demands their return.
Bartlett, when questioned by Deputy Communications Director Sam about the growing international incident and what will the President do is told that the leader of that Chinese church is being flown to DC and he’ll meet with him. An interesting discussion about proving faith ensues and Sam gets a bible lesson (Judges 12, 5-6) on the word Shibboleth:
And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;
Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.
I couldn’t find the clip of the meeting that evening between Bartlett and the leader of the Chinese Christians but it’s clear they aren’t as Sam said Immigration thought could be the case that they were “feigning faith.” Having already been told by his Chief of Staff Leo that if the President wanted to release the Chinese in a way that would blow over it had been done before. The Chinese man actually referred to Shibboleth at which point Bartlett tells him ‘You sir have just said the magic word, in more ways than one.’ After dismissing him Bartlett asks Leo, “How was it done before?” Leo tells him the group is being held in an INS facility and poses a tongue in cheek question along the lines of ‘You have to ask yourself how secure that facility is?”
The next day as Sam hands the President the proclamation statement of Thanksgiving for a final go-over and Josh, Deputy Chief of staff is there and raises the news about the Chinese having “escaped” as the children outside in the Rose Garden are starting to sing the We Gather Together song. Bartlett’s response was, well see for yourself:
On a lighter note, just before that Press Secretary C.J. prevails on the President to do a second Turkey Pardon. Two live Turkey’s had been delivered and she had to choose which one would be best to use in the ceremony. What she didn’t learn until the kid came back the next day was that the one that hadn’t been chosen was worth hundreds of dollars and would go back to the farm to be killed and handed over to the person who’d already paid for it. So she convinces the President to issue a second pardon in a scene that will make you groan and smile (maybe even laugh) at the same time:
Now we come to my favorite Thanksgiving moment from West Wing. I cry every time I watch it. If you’re not a fan of the series then here’s a few things you should know. Charlie’s character was added when it was pointed out all the main players were white. Things get off to a difficult start, from the moment he sits down with Deputy Chief of Staff Josh for an interview. Charlie was the son of a DC police officer shot and killed in the line of duty. He applied for a run of the mill WH job as a means of being able to take care of his younger sister and get her through high school. He was pretty uncomfortable when Josh told him the position he was being considered for – the President’s so-called “body man” which is a huge deal.
His first introduction to the President in fact doesn’t go well. Bartlett is distracted by a crisis and pretty cold during the initial introduction. More importantly, we would learn until late in the series’ run how Josh came to interview him and put him in the job in the first place via the addition of Lily Tomlin’s character as his Executive Secretary. What matters is that before that first episode with Charlie is over Bartlett more than makes up for his initial coldness, and Charlie quickly became as important as ‘Senior Staff’ – someone the President relied on. Although Josh and others thought him to be much smarter and more capable than his demeanor suggested he was even more than they imagined.
Charlie’s rapid growth into someone the President could count on leads to what I think is one of the series’ most profound moments. In part because “Jed” Bartlett’s (from New Hampshire) actual name is Josiah Bartlett. If you look at the first line of signatures on the Declaration of Independence the signature on the right is that of Josiah Bartlett. In the series he’s the great grandfather of Bartlett’s great grandfather. A literal founder and a “somebody” back then.
From the outset of the episode (other scenes I’ve included come from it) Charlie has been on the hunt for a ‘Carving Set’ for his boss. One of those formal knives (and often a matching huge fork) in a fancy case someone presiding over a Thanksgiving meal breaks out with some fanfare to carve the turkey in front of everyone. During the episode Charlie thinks he’s finally got it, only to have President Bartlett complain it was lacking in some (trivial) way. Finally, near the end a mildly annoyed Charlie asks why all the fuss – that each of the knives he’s presented just cut meat. Watch what follows:
Tell me if that doesn’t bring a tear to your eye you at least have a lump in your throat. For all the difficulties we have right now as people and a nation (and on Thanksgivings past) there ARE things we can be grateful for. Sometimes we need a little help, or even inspiration but I hope I’ve provided some.
From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for reading my work and that of other writers on Politizoom. I thank you for whatever efforts you put forth to move us towards the goal of being “A more perfect Union” and that  your Thanksgiving is a happy one. If nothing else, give thanks that we still can work to make things better for everyone both in our own country and abroad.
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
Not a “gotta do an article”, Denis. Research, depth and feeling. Thanks (and for the revived memories too).