This is the most West Wing election, even if the show is a fairy tale

The New York Times

In revisiting the Aaron Sorkin drama amid the 2020 presidential election, Margaret Renkl realizes how out of date it is in the Trump era. "Today," she says, "it’s a trip not just to another time — a time when computers covered an entire desk and cellphones were half the size of our heads — but to another planet. A place where people with different politics don’t fear one another and hate one another the way they fear and hate one another now. The West Wing may be a fairy tale, but it’s a fairy tale with lessons we should heed on Election Day. We have had four years of unrepentant graft, of racist dog whistles and military force turned on American citizens. We’ve had four years of children torn from their parents and put in cages, of disdain for science and journalism, of disregard for public health and human life. Four years of dismantling American institutions, of humiliation on the world stage. Four years of lying and lying and lying. But this is the United States of America, and we don’t have to live with this travesty of a government anymore. This is the United States of America, and we can vote. Until Tuesday, we have the chance to cast our votes for idealism over cynicism, for optimism over despair, for faith in this country and in our fellow Americans. We have a chance to vote for down-ballot candidates who won’t look the other way while American values are trampled into the mud of a climate-triggered flood and the ash of a climate-triggered wildfire. We have the chance to vote for a president who actually wants to 'restore the soul of America,' the chance to vote for a ticket that looks a lot like America itself. It may be the most West Wing thing we ever do in our lives."