In Michael Crichton’s terrific 2004 novel “State of Fear,” never made into a movie because it makes a strong case that the purveyors of climate change hysteria are just ignorant hooey-mongers, a character modeled on Martin Sheen travels to a tropical island suing the United States for alleged climate change damages and is eaten by cannibals. I was reminded of this episode when I read excerpts from his “blistering anti-Trump speech” on MSNBC yesterday.

Sheen epitomizes the “Shut up and act!” Hollywood activists, except that he is more afflicted with the Dunning-Kruger than most. He is neither particularly bright or well-educated, and is one of those fascinating actors who is successful playing characters smarter than he is, whereupon he gets confused and thinks that he is the smart one.

This is how desperate MSNBC was yesterday to find someone able to thrill its Trump Deranged audience: they stooped to allowing Sheen to rant interview with MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace. What possible enlightenment does Sheen offer anyone on any topic not related to acting (which has been his full occupation since he was a teenager) , and what possible credentials does he have (more than, say, someone you hit with a rock thrown randomly into a crowd) to opine on the Trump Presidency? Does Sheen know he just played a President? Does Wallace? Does MSNBC?

Here is what that sad, sick network thought was worth broadcasting:

SHEEN: It’s a mighty battle going on. It’s not about winning or losing. It’s about being in touch with your own personal humanity because there’s such a lack of it coming from this administration. I’m convinced of this — that when you look at this group of people at the round table in the White House, the cabinet room, every one of those people look across the table and they do not see anyone who is better than they are. They generally see a reflection of their [worst] selves. 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. It smells of ego and fear and false worship….

[Sec. of Health and Human Services RFK Jr.’s] father sat in that room [with] the ExComm committee in October 1962 during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. He literally, with his brother John, rejected an attack on Cuba and basically saved the world from nuclear annihilation. He did it because he was in touch with his humanity and he understood the enemy was also human. If we don’t find our own personal humanity, we cannot possibly find it or see it in each other.If we’re lucky enough to surrender and accept the responsibility that we start as nothing basically, except our humanity, then we realize, ‘Oh my God, being human is all we need. We’re broken. It’s beautiful brokenness, because if you weren’t broken, nothing could get in to change you…[To Trump, Keith Olbermann-style] You’ve got to realize, sir, that 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.”

What the hell was he babbling about? I presume that all of the “humanity” stuff was standard issue Axis cant about it being “cruel” to deport illegal immigrants and not to open the borders to whoever thinks it to their advantage to come here. This position makes no sense, of course, and is just one part of the progressive delusions that punishing criminals is cruel, enforcing laws is cruel, not making those who are productive and responsible take care of those who are not is cruel, not having the government pay for housing, healthcare, food and clothing for everyone is cruel, refusing to pay for the welfare of the populations of other nations is cruel when we cannot pay our own debt, not perpetually discriminating against men and whites is cruel, not rewarding Hamas for slaughtering Jews is cruel. I would bet that Sheen is on board with all of those, but who knows?

I’ve seen more laughter in the few excerpts I’ve watched from Trump Cabinet meetings than all the previous cabinet meetings I’ve watched from previous administrations combined. Joy? Trump exudes enjoyment of his job: he may show more enthusiasm and energy while being President than any POTUS since Teddy Roosevelt.

My favorite part of Sheen’s self-beclowning was his confusing the TV special based on “Thirteen Days,” in which he played Robert Kennedy (the book’s alleged author) to William Devane’s JFK, to the real Cuban Missile Crisis. No, Marty, Robert Kennedy did not “literally, with his brother John, rejected an attack on Cuba and basically [save] the world from nuclear annihilation.” First of all, RFK didn’t save anyone: he was just one of many officials in that room to advise the President, and had no power in the matter: he was just Attorney General. Second, everyone in that room rejected the “bomb Cuba” suggestion, one of many, because it came from Gen. Curtis “Bombs Away” Lemay, who most of the people in that room regarded as a dangerous wacko. Third, President Kennedy caused the threat of nuclear war by being so incompetent in his handling of the Bay of Pigs and subsequent interactions with USSR Premier Khrushchev. Finally, Jack’s brother distorted the history of the crisis to make his family look good—Gee, what a surprise! When all the documents were revealed, historians concluded that it was Khrushchev, not Kennedy, who pulled back from the precipice of nuclear annihilation because he “understood the enemy was also human.”

How do you assess the opinion of someone who can’t distinguish a TV Special from the event it claimed to portray, and the behavior of a figure he was playing from the real man? I assess it as worthless.

Before Sheen played the fictional, skilled Democratic President in “The West Wing,” he played the cowardly, dangerous demagogue Presidential candidate in the movie version of Stephen King’s “The Dead Zone.” I really liked him in that role….

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Pointer: Old Bill