Actor Bradley Whitford from The West Wing and The Handmaid’s Tale wants Democrats to avoid falling into “despair” after Donald Trump’s second victory, he told The Independent in an exclusive interview.
Whitford, known for his Emmy-winning West Wing performance as the firebrand political strategist Josh Lyman, said he was surprised by Trump’s decisive win. The 65-year-old has long been a Democratic ally, and most recently spoke at a Harris rally in Wisconsin on October 22.
“I absolutely thought we were going to win,” Whitford told The Independent outside the White House on Wednesday afternoon, less than 12 hours after Donald Trump secured his second term.
“I thought it was going to be closer,” he added. “But whenever any of my friends asked me, I would end it with, ‘You can never underestimate how you know, racist and sexist this country is.’”
The polls suggested it would be closer, too. The last New York Times/Siena College poll before Election Day showed the two candidates neck-and-neck in all swing states.
In reality, Trump won the swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Arizona and Nevada are still too early to call as of Wednesday afternoon, but will ultimately not make a difference in the election outcome.
Whitford then called on Democrats to take action in response to their historic losses this Election Day.
“Despair is a luxury our children cannot afford, and action is the antidote to despair, and we will continue the fight to hold this country up to its spectacular, unfulfilled aspiration,” Whitford said.
“Cynicism and despair is what they want you to feel, and despair is a luxury that the future can’t afford,” he added.
When The Independent asked what he would tell Trump if given the chance, Whitford took a beat to consider his answer.
“Blend your makeup,” he said with a laugh.
Whitford also shared a 40-year-old anecdote about the first time he learned of Trump.
“My first awareness of Donald Trump: I went to college, and then I went to acting school in New York,” Whitford told The Independent. “And when I got to acting school, there were some fourth-year guys who were really upset, because they’d spent the summer working for this real estate guy who had never paid them. They had confronted him — this is 1981 — and he said, ‘What are you going to do? Going to sue me? You know, you’re effing actors.’”
“It is completely bewildering to me, the cult that has formed around a narcissist like this, the worst person in show business, and that’s a tough category,” Whitford concluded.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
