In The Know

‘West Wing’ star Bradley Whitford says ‘fakest thing’ about the show was ‘we had rational Republicans’

Actor Bradley Whitford attends the SAG-AFTRA Foundation's Conversations screening of "Monica" at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Screening Room on Oct. 16, 2023, in Los Angeles.

A former “The West Wing” star is highlighting his support for President Biden’s reelection campaign, saying that the most glaringly phony aspect of the acclaimed political drama was the existence of a “rational” GOP.

“The fakest thing about ‘The West Wing’ was that we had rational Republicans,” Bradley Whitford, who played fictional White House deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman on the long-running NBC series, said in a Biden campaign fundraising email Tuesday.

Whitford blasted former President Trump in the fundraising pitch, saying, “In reality, the GOP today is led by a racist birther and twice-impeached con man who is now a convicted felon.”

But Trump, Whitford said in the appeal to donors, “isn’t the only one at fault. He’s been embraced by spineless MAGA extremists at every rung of the Party ladder.”

“That’s why I’m urging everyone to take concrete steps that will help reelect President Joe Biden,” the message said.


“If we’ve learned anything over the last eight years, it’s that you don’t just get a democracy. You have to make one. Every day. Through voting, through marching, through using your voice and using your wallet,” the 64-year-old actor said. 

It’s not the first time that the performer — and much of “The West Wing” cast — have given Biden and Democrats a fundraising boost. In 2021, “West Wing” stars including Whitford, Dulé Hill and Richard Schiff, reunited for a virtual event organized by Biden’s inaugural committee. A year later, ahead of the midterm elections, cast members came together again for an event benefitting the Wisconsin Democratic Party.