After stumping for Hillary Clinton with some of his fellow cast members from the former NBC show The West Wing, actor Bradley Whitford joined the Thursday edition of MSNBC’s Hardball to assure viewers that Hillary Clinton’s “motivation for her entire professional life has been to speak out for children, for women's rights, civil rights, rights for people in all communities.”
Whitford also made sure to opine moments later that one of things he frequently joked that “the fakest thing aside from my teeth about The West Wing was that we had rational Republican” and chided them for being more concerned about the election being “a personality contest.”
It took awhile for Whitford to finally show up as host Chris Matthews aired clips of Whitford plus fellow actors Mary McCormack and Bradley Schiff campaigning for Clinton in Ohio and gushing about his performance of liberal politician Hubert Humphrey in the TV movie All the Way.
Eventually, Matthews admittedly lobbed a softball Whitford’s way: “Anyway, just for an exercise, compare a guy like Hubert Humphrey, who spent his whole life fighting for civil life, had a purpose for public life and public service with Donald Trump. Here's your easy one. Compare those two guys.”
Whitford began by ruling that he could apply the same rules to Clinton and Trump because “you know, as an actor, you think about what is your motivation” before going gaga for Clinton:
Her motivation for her entire professional life has been to speak out for children, for women's rights, civil rights, rights for people in all communities, and Donald Trump, on the other hand, his motivation is, I guess, you know, accumulation of attention and money.
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Matthews commented next to Whitford that 2016 “seems like a different kind of election” via the rather lame prism of newspapers with examples of USA Today breaking its trend of not offering an endorsement for/against a presidential candidate and right-leaning editorial boards like those of The Arizona Republic and The Dallas Morning News endorsing Hillary Clinton.
Using that as a marker of “establishment” Republicans being uneasy about Trump, Whitford shot back that he often saw no reason to believe that there were any sane Republicans:
Well, I got to say, I always used to joke that the fakest thing aside from my teeth about The West Wing was that we had rational Republicans and one of the things that really upsets me is an election is not a personality contest. It is an opportunity for us to have an important discussion about how to face these tremendously urgent issues, and this rodeo clown has sucked all the oxygen out of the room and I think it's — it’s — it's not good for us.
Upon exploring the vast NewsBusters archive, Whitford has a checkered history of touting his favorite liberal politicians and trashing Republicans. Back in May 2006, Whitford appeared on fellow lefty Bill Maher’s HBO show and decried then-President George W. Bush as having “desecrated” the American flag and is “addicted” to violence.
Whitford also spoke to Matthews on November 11, 2015 following the fourth Republican presidential primary debate and bemoaned the field as “mak[ing] Ronald Reagan look like Abbie Hoffman and Herman Cain look like Winston Churchill.”
Moving to 2016, Whitford told MSNBC on April 5 that “[t]here’s no doubt in my mind that Hillary would be President Bartlett's choice” and boasted about Clinton back on September 8's Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
The relevant portion of the transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on September 29 can be found below.
MSNBC’s Hardball
September 29, 2016
7:51 p.m. EasternMARY MCCORMACK: Donald Trump can claim he knows more than all the generals, but the truth is, the candidate all the generals respect is Hillary Clinton.
RICHARD SCHIFF: Imagine what this man, we all know who he is, what the ramifications will be for decades upon decades upon decades.
BRADLEY WHITFORD: You know, politics isn't entertainment. It isn't a joke. It isn't just a cool place to set a television show. Politics is the way that we create our moral vision.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: We're back. That was Emmy Award-winning actor Bradley Whitford and other stars from the hit TV series The West Wing out on the campaign trail in Ohio there for Hillary Clinton. Actor Bradley Whitford joins us now. Bradley, I know you're here for a very important cause, the national election, but I got to tell you. Your performance as Hubert Humphrey — you know, I'm watching the thing, All the Way, in the movie, and I'm watching, I say, I know that guy. I swear I know that guy from somewhere and I know you pretty well and I'm thinking, my God, that's Bradley Whitford in that Hubert Humphrey reality. Anyway, just for an exercise, compare a guy like Hubert Humphrey, who spent his whole life fighting for civil life, had a purpose for public life and public service with Donald Trump. Here's your easy one. Compare those two guys.
WHITFORD: Compare them? I tell you, it's the same comparison I feel between Trump and Hillary Clinton. She — you know, as an actor, you think about what is your motivation? Her motivation for her entire professional life has been to speak out for children, for women's rights, civil rights, rights for people in all communities, and Donald Trump, on the other hand, his motivation is, I guess, you know, accumulation of attention and money.
MATTHEWS: You know, this seems like a different kind of election. It’s not just as symmetric in terms of the personalities and motivations, but the way that — you know, USA Today came out tonight, it's going to be in the paper tomorrow, they're actually endorsing against Trump. Papers like the newspaper down in Texas, the Dallas paper, the Detroit paper, people that are normally Republican whatever you want to call them, establishment, are dismayed by Trump.
WHITFORD: Well, I got to say, I always used to joke that the fakest thing aside from my teeth about The West Wing was that we had rational Republicans and one of the things that really upsets me is an election is not a personality contest. It is an opportunity for us to have an important discussion about how to face these tremendously urgent issues, and this rodeo clown has sucked all the oxygen out of the room and I think it's — it’s — it's not good for us.
MATTHEWS: Well, explain this because great political leaders, whether it's FDR, Lincoln, Kennedy, all of them, Obama, they all have the ability to entertain in a broad sense — in a sense that grab your attention, keep your attention. They're not boring people.
WHITFORD: They have to be good on TV.
MATTHEWS: How does Trump corrupt that – we were allowed to look for charisma. That’s not a bad thing. How is he corrupting that?
WHITFORD: Well, listen, he is fantastic television in the same way watching a car wreck is fascinating television. He's hypnotic because of his utter lack of shame and his moral bankruptcy. It's a hypnotic thing to watch. I just want to say, you know, I've been listening to your show in the car on way over here. Here we are talking about a candidate who is fat-shaming people, a candidate who mocks people with disabilities. If I got a call from my son's school and heard that he was mocking someone's disabilities, that he was making fun of flat-chested girls, fat-shaming girls, I would disown him and yet, at a time when we should be discussing, and I really want kids to understand how important this election is. Five Supreme Court justices. There's a lot of things —
MATTHEWS: Okay.
WHITFORD: — that we can't take for granted.
