Actor Martin Sheen, who famously played the fictional Democratic President Josiah “Jed” Bartlet on the top-tier political drama The West Wing, absolutely tore into President Donald Trump this week.
He delivered a brutal, on-air monologue that culminated in him calling the President “the biggest nothing in the world”. The 85-year-old star was a guest on anchor Nicolle Wallace’s podcast, The Best People, and he didn’t hold back one bit, giving “the big guy in the White House” some incredibly harsh, unsolicited advice.
This wasn’t just a quick jab; it was a comprehensive takedown delivered with the gravitas you’d expect from a man who spent seven seasons playing the most powerful person in the world. Sheen started by urging the President to drop his self-absorption and get in touch with his humanity, saying, “You gotta realize, sir, that you are the biggest nothing in the world.” Seems like Martin Sheen doesn’t want more regrets and is saying how he feels.
It seems like Jasmine Crocket isn’t the only one vocal against Trump, as Sheen then told Trump to stop listening to all the people he sees as sycophants who are encouraging him “to be your non-human self.” This is where the whole thing just gets incredible, because he followed up by giving the President a full-on life lesson on how to carry himself, saying, “Stop fussing with your hair, don’t worry about your tie, and stand up straight and speak clearly, not from your throat,” per NY Post.
Martin Sheen totally ripped into Trump
He advised Trump to “Speak from your heart and start being human. That’s what you were made for — not golf”. Honestly, the way Sheen delivered that was night and day compared to the usual political commentary you hear. He signed off that incredible dressing down with the perfect, rhetorical kicker, dripping with sarcasm, “So there you are, Mr. President, with all due respect, sir”.
I honestly can’t believe how direct he was on a major news network. You just don’t see that kind of raw emotion and storytelling from celebrity commentators often. Moving forward from his direct challenge to the President, Sheen didn’t stop there. He went right after Trump’s entire Cabinet, too, accusing “this group of people at the round table, in the White House, the cabinet room” of a kind of toxic egotism and a deep, unsettling lack of humanity.
Actor Martin Sheen tells Trump,
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) October 14, 2025
“You are the biggest nothing in the world. Stop listening to all these people around you, these sycophants, who are encouraging you to be your non-human self. Get in touch with that humanity.”
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He’s convinced that when they look at each other, “every one of those people look across the table and they do not see anyone who is better than they are”. On the other hand, you can see his point. He painted a pretty grim picture of the administration’s inner sanctum, saying there’s absolutely no joy or heroism in that room. He argued that there’s no “heroes in there, there’s no music, there’s no laughter, there’s no self-effacement, there’s no joy in that room”.
He concluded by saying that the room doesn’t just feel empty; he says it “smells of ego and fear and false worship”. That’s some top-tier descriptive language right there, and it’s a brutal assessment of how he views the people surrounding the President.
