--- title: Justin Trudeau on Channeling The West Wing in Interview description: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau watched episodes of 'The West Wing' to help him prepare for political debates. canonical: https://time.com/4876989/justin-trudeau-on-west-wing-interview/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-27T20:31:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:45:58.986Z og:title: Justin Trudeau Channels the President From The West Wing og:description: Even Justin Trudeau is a 'West Wing' superfan og:url: https://time.com/4876989/justin-trudeau-on-west-wing-interview/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69c57d13952d1c69/6988d777cf40a88e3dc48bb9/justin-trudeau-west-wing.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Prime Minister Trudeau At NGA 2017 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Justin Trudeau Channels the President From The West Wing twitter:description: Even Justin Trudeau is a 'West Wing' superfan twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69c57d13952d1c69/6988d777cf40a88e3dc48bb9/justin-trudeau-west-wing.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Justin Trudeau Discusses Channeling the Fake President From _The West Wing_  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jul 27, 2017 8:31 PM UTC  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended the National Governors Association Meeting in Providence, RI on July 14, 2017\. The Canadian PM addressed the audience at the meeting where US Vice President Pence was also in attendance. (Photo by Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended the National Governors Association Meeting in Providence, RI on July 14, 2017\. The Canadian PM addressed the audience at the meeting where US Vice President Pence was also in attendance. (Photo by Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto via Getty Images)NurPhoto—NurPhoto via Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jul 27, 2017 8:31 PM UTC If you find yourself still watching season after season of [_The West Wing_](http://time.com/4535825/west-wing-reunion-allison-janney-hollywood-walk-of-fame/), longingly looking at the leadership and acumen of [President Josiah Bartlet](http://time.com/4378212/west-wing-presidential-endorsement-2016/), know that you’re in powerful company because even Canadian Prime Minister and internationally acknowledged [feminist heartthrob Justin Trudeau](http://motto.time.com/4505692/justin-trudeau-un-speech-feminism/) has also drawn inspiration from the fictional President Bartlet. In an interview on _The West Wing Weekly_ podcast, Trudeau revealed that the popular television series is extremely relatable to him, especially when it comes to the struggles of leading a country and the day-to-day challenges of being a political figure. In fact, Trudeau even shared that he used a 2002 episode of President Bartlet in a debate (where, true _West Wing_ devotees might remember, he eviscerates his opponent for giving “10 word” answers without context) to prepare for his own political debates. “I watched it on YouTube to try to bone up for my own debates,” Trudeau said, adding that in his own career, “there are little moments where I get to channel my inner Bartlet.” He also shared that he liked how politics were shaped around “ideals and values and principles” on the show, although he also wished that leading a country was as easy as Bartlet made it seem. “We were all in a certain sense colored by having watched West Wing while we were thinking about how we wanted to have an impact on the world in our lives,” he said. Listen to the full interview below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4876989/justin-trudeau-on-west-wing-interview/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4876989/justin-trudeau-on-west-wing-interview/"},"headline":"Justin Trudeau Discusses Channeling the Fake President From The West Wing","datePublished":"2017-07-27T20:31:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:45:58.986Z","description":"Even Justin Trudeau is a 'West Wing' superfan","url":"https://time.com/4876989/justin-trudeau-on-west-wing-interview/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","politics","viral","Justin Trudeau"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69c57d13952d1c69/6988d777cf40a88e3dc48bb9/justin-trudeau-west-wing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69c57d13952d1c69/6988d777cf40a88e3dc48bb9/justin-trudeau-west-wing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Prime Minister Trudeau At NGA 2017","caption":"Prime Minister Trudeau At NGA 2017","creditText":"NurPhoto—NurPhoto via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4876989/justin-trudeau-on-west-wing-interview/","name":"Justin Trudeau Discusses Channeling the Fake President From The West Wing"}}]}] ```