A group of historians believe Lin-Manuel Miranda&#8217;s now-famous musical, &#8220;Hamilton,&#8221; simply isn&#8217;t woke enough, and they&#8217;ve penned a play in response which they believe will help &#8220;educate&#8221; the Broadway star about the Founding Father he white-washed.
A University of California Berkeley professor says it&#8217;s now his mission to battle the cultural forces of Miranda&#8217;s popular &#8220;Hamilton&#8221; musical, which has had a record-breaking run on Broadway and is now touring cities internationally. Miranda&#8217;s version of the Founding Father &#8212; though very &#8220;woke&#8221; in its own right &#8212; glazes over the historical Hamilton&#8217;s more &#8220;problematic&#8221; aspects, <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/ct-ent-historians-hamilton-musical-20190204-story.html">according to an interview in the Chicago Tribune</a>.
Professor Ishmael Reed&#8217;s new play, &#8220;The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda,&#8221; is, he says, a &#8220;take down&#8221; of Miranda&#8217;s historical hero.
The work, the Tribune says, &#8220;is an uncompromising take-down of &#8216;Hamilton,&#8217; reminding viewers of the Founding Father&#8217;s complicity in slavery and his war on Native Americans.&#8221;
&#8220;My goal is that this be a counter-narrative to the text that has been distributed to thousands of students throughout the country,&#8221; Reed added.
Miranda has admitted that his Alexander Hamilton, a portrayal based on Ron Chernow&#8217;s best-selling biography, is a partially fictional character, and that his score takes significant liberties with Hamilton&#8217;s background, filling in the blanks in Hamilton&#8217;s past and editing Hamilton&#8217;s trials and tribulations down to what can fit in a 2.5-hour Broadway production.
To help fans of the show get a clearer idea of Alexander Hamilton&#8217;s life, producers of &#8220;Hamilton&#8221; have coordinated a traveling museum exhibit on the life and times of the real Hamilton, which will follow the show&#8217;s traveling company across the country. The exhibit will open first in Chicago next month.
But Reed argues that &#8220;Miranda got Hamilton all wrong &#8212; the Founding Father wasn&#8217;t progressive at all, his actual role as a slave owner has been whitewashed and the pro-immigrant figure onstage hides the fact that he was, in fact, an anti-immigration elitist,&#8221; and that Miranda&#8217;s portrayal is actually dangerous in that it elevates a historical figure who should be despised to a position of relevance and respect.
In his version, Reed has the ghosts of Native Americans, slaves, and and indentured servants visit Miranda and biographer Ron Chernow in the style of Charles Dickens&#8217; &#8220;A Christmas Carol&#8221; to correct the record on the Founding Father. Reed takes aim not just at Hamilton, but at the Schyler family, which Hamilton marries into, and accuses Miranda and Chernow of running a &#8220;good hustle&#8221; to hide what one Reed-supportive historian termed, &#8220;the white supremacist origins of our country.&#8221;
Reed&#8217;s play has been read a handful of times in off-off-Broadway theaters, and he hopes to bring the show to a more public location soon.

Historians Worried ‘Hamilton’ Isn’t Woke Enough Pen ‘Response Play’

Hamilton

Racism

The Musical

White Supremacy

On Sunday, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator and original star of &#8220;Hamilton,&#8221; <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6586917/Our-current-president-lies-easy-breathe-air-Lin-Manuel-Miranda-slams-Trump.html">vented his fury</a> at President Trump after Trump had targeted Democrats visiting Puerto Rico and seeing a performance of the musical while the federal government was partially shut down.
Miranda tweeted, &#8220;Your occasional reminder that our current president lies as easy as you and I breathe air. Every day, all day, reflexively.&#8221;
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Your occasional reminder that our current president lies as easy as you and I breathe air. 
Every day, all day, reflexively.
&#8212; Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) <a href="https://twitter.com/Lin_Manuel/status/1084479025966395393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2019</a></blockquote>
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President Trump has roundly criticized the Democrats for their jaunt to Puerto Rico; on Saturday he tweeted: &#8220;Democrats should come back to Washington and work to end the Shutdown, while at the same time ending the horrible humanitarian crisis at our Southern Border. I am in the White House waiting for you!&#8221;
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Democrats should come back to Washington and work to end the Shutdown, while at the same time ending the horrible humanitarian crisis at our Southern Border. I am in the White House waiting for you!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1084094708144619525?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
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He also tweeted, &#8220;We have a massive Humanitarian Crisis at our Southern Border. We will be out for a long time unless the Democrats come back from their &#8216;vacations&#8217; and get back to work. I am in the White House ready to sign!&#8221;
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We have a massive Humanitarian Crisis at our Southern Border. We will be out for a long time unless the Democrats come back from their &#8220;vacations&#8221; and get back to work. I am in the White House ready to sign!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1084121557193146368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
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As <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-im-in-the-white-house-democrats-are-on-vacation">The Washington Examiner</a> reported, appearing on Fox News&#8217; &#8220;Justice with Judge Jeanine&#8221; on Saturday, Trump said, &#8220;I&#8217;d rather see the Democrats come back from their vacation and act. They&#8217;re not acting, and they&#8217;re the ones that are holding it up. It would take me 15 minutes to get a deal done, and everybody could go back to work. But I&#8217;d like to see them act responsibly, and they&#8217;re not acting responsibly, and that&#8217;s it. I&#8217;m in the White House, and most of them are in different locations. They&#8217;re watching a certain musical in a very nice location.&#8221;
Speaking of the Democrats who were visiting Puerto Rico, which was ravaged by hurricanes in 2017, Lin-Manuel Miranda&#8217;s father Luis, interviewed by <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/more-than-30-members-of-congress-will-visit-puerto-rico-during-hamiltons-opening-week/">CBS News</a>, stated, &#8220;They&#8217;ll get to experience firsthand the needs of the island, so that they go back and sort of fight (President) Trump and the Republicans.&#8221;
Some Democrats have slammed the Trump administration for its relief efforts after the hurricane. Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), who joined other Democrats intending to create a commission to examine how the federal government dealt with the hurricanes, stated, &#8220;As we move into the 116th Congress, I will continue calling for accountability for how Donald Trump and his administration failed 3.4 million American citizens after Maria struck &#8230; It is clear now, from multiple analyses, that thousands &#8230; needlessly lost their lives because of the federal government&#8217;s feeble response to these hurricanes and their aftermath.&#8221;
CBS News reported that the Democrats&#8217; trip to Puerto Rico was &#8220;organized by Bold PAC, a political committee and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus&#8217; fundraising arm.&#8221;
&#8220;Hamilton&#8221; was scheduled to run for three weeks in Puerto Rico, with the funds raised from the show donated to the Flamboyan Arts Fund, which was created by the Miranda family. Luis Miranda estimated that the show would raise roughly $15 million for the fund, asserting, &#8220;Most of those dollars go to fund the arts through the Flamboyan Arts Fund. So we have around 2,000 tickets that we are selling for $5,000 and the bulk of that &#8212; 4,700 bucks &#8212; goes as a philanthropic gift &#8230; Nobody is making a penny here. All the investors, everyone has agreed that everything stays in the island &#8212; in the arts funds.&#8221;
The White House released a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trumps-administration-helped-lead-historic-recovery-effort-puerto-rico/">statement</a> in September 2018 addressing the relief efforts that were mounted in the wake of the hurricanes in Puerto Rico. The statement noted these details:
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$20 billion allocated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development for disaster-related community development grants to Puerto Rico, the largest ever.
$1.4 billion in federal grants approved for more than 462,000 homeowners and renters.
$3.2 billion in FEMA Public Assistance funding obligated.
$33 million in claims paid by the National Flood Insurance Program.
$1.85 billion in low-interest disaster loans from the Small Business Administration.
$8 million in disaster unemployment assistance for more than 9,000 survivors.
$802 million approved for FEMA housing assistance.
Puerto Rico&#8217;s entire electrical grid failed following Hurricane Maria, but today power has been restored to 99.99 percent of customers able to receive an electrical connection.
Water systems were inoperable following Hurricane Maria, but today 99 percent of customers have had water restored.
Debris and 41,000 landslides shut down all but 400 miles of Puerto Rico&#8217;s 16,700 miles of roads, but today roads are clear and traffic is moving.
Maria knocked out 95 percent of cellular sites, but today 99.8 percent are operating.
</blockquote>

‘Hamilton’ Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda Rips Trump: ‘Lies As Easy As You And I Breathe Air’

Donald Trump

Puerto Rico

Thirty Democrats spent the weekend sunning themselves on the beaches of Puerto Rico, enjoying the Congressional Hispanic Caucus BOLD PAC&#8217;s winter retreat in San Juan, while their colleagues back at home worked to negotiate an end to the ongoing government shutdown, and complained &#8212; loudly &#8212; that most federal workers have now missed a paycheck.
The timing could not have been worse for BOLD PAC&#8217;s annual roundtable weekend, where &#8220;key officials&#8221; met with members of the Puerto Rican government to discuss the ongoing Hurricane Maria relief efforts &#8212; but also to spend quality time soaking up rays on San Juan&#8217;s famous beaches, rubbing elbows with Puerto Rico&#8217;s VIPs, and attending a premiere performance of the musical &#8220;Hamilton,&#8221; starring the show&#8217;s A-list creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda.
And, <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/30-dems-in-puerto-rico-with-109-lobbyists-for-weekend-despite-shutdown">the Washington Examiner reports</a>, Democrats spent quality time with lobbyists from some of the world&#8217;s biggest corporations.
&#8220;Some 109 lobbyists and corporate executives are named in the memo, a rate of 3.6 lobbyists for every member. They include those from several big K Street firms, R.J. Reynolds, Facebook, Comcast, Amazon, PhRMA, Microsoft, Intel, Verizon, and unions like the National Education Association,&#8221; according to the Examiner.
It does not appear that the vacation is all expenses paid (lawmakers covered their own &#8220;Hamilton&#8221; tickets, for example), but legislators reportedly received a free stay at a $429-per-night resort and most of their meals were covered.
Eagle-eyed tourists spotted a handful of Democrats enjoying the beautiful Puerto Rican weather. One Twitter user snapped a picture of Sen. Robert Menendez enjoying an impromptu meeting on the beach.
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Spotted: Sen. Bob Menendez on the beach at a resort in Puerto Rico on Day 22 of the partial government shutdown. Reports say dozens of Dems are in PR for the CHC BOLD PAC winter retreat &#8212; including meetings on Maria cleanup, and a party with PR&#8217;s &#8220;Hamilton&#8221; cast. <a href="https://t.co/6FaBYKPo4L">pic.twitter.com/6FaBYKPo4L</a>
&#8212; David McAlpine (@DavidMcAlpine) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidMcAlpine/status/1084156883714392067?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
BOLD PAC did not release a list of legislators attending their annual event, but the Washington Examiner obtained a partial list from the resort. Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was on the list, but her Washington, D.C. office insists that she did not make the trip.
Democrats justified the trip by claiming that the retreat was planned well in advance of the shutdown, and that Democrats were working hard on reopening the government even as they relaxed in 80 degree weather.
&#8220;House Democrats voted to open the government multiple times; sadly, Senate Republicans and President Trump are continuing to put partisan politics ahead of our country, forcing the government to remain shut down,&#8221; Bold PAC Chair Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-CA) said in a statement.
&#8220;As our Bold PAC members make their way to Puerto Rico for this important weekend &#8212; the largest contingency of House Democrats to visit Puerto Rico where they&#8217;ll be hearing from Commonwealth and local elected officials about the ongoing recovery efforts &#8212; we will be closely monitoring the situation in Washington. If there is any progress by Senate Republicans or the White House to reopen the federal government, then we will act accordingly,&#8221; he continued.

Dems Head To Puerto Rico For Beach Vacation, ‘Hamilton’ Premiere Amid Shutdown

Democratic Party

Government Shutdown

Nancy Pelosi

Michelle Obama is taking a starring role in a new &#8220;non-partisan&#8221; campaign to encourage Americans to register to vote and make sure they cast a ballot in November.
<a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/397832-michelle-obama-joins-stars-in-launch-of-voter-registration-push">The Hill reports that Obama</a> is joining forces with a cast of celebrities &#8212; all of whom happen to be Democratic donors and activists &#8212; &#8220;in a public service announcement to promote a get-out-the-vote push.&#8221;
The video stars Tom Hanks, Lin Manuel Miranda (of &#8220;Hamilton&#8221; fame), Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and Janele Monae alongside the former First Lady. Obama &#8220;places calls&#8221; to her celebrity friends to remind them that the presidential election isn&#8217;t the only election that matters.
WATCH:
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&#8220;If we really want our voices to be heard, we need to vote in every election. Not just for president, but for every office: school board, statehouse, Senate &#8212; all of them,&#8221; Obama tells Miranda.
&#8220;When we vote, we prove that we are a democracy. We&#8217;re a government of the people and by the people,&#8221; Hanks adds.
Michelle Obama rounds out the PSA by announcing the creation of a &#8220;When We All Vote&#8221; non-profit. &#8220;It&#8217;s time. Our nation requires it. Our democracy and the country we love requires our attention, voice, and participation.&#8221;
All the celebrities who appear in the video, including Obama, will serve as co-chairs on the &#8220;When We All Vote&#8221; campaign.

Michelle Obama Launches Voter Registration Push With Tom Hanks, Lin Manuel Miranda

Michelle Obama

Tom Hanks

Voting Rights

Advocating that immigrant children not be separated from their families at the border: understandable. Advocating that immigrant children not be separated from their families at the border while supporting the separating of children from their mother&#8217;s wombs: despicable.
&#8220;Hamilton&#8221; creator Lin-Manuel Miranda is an open supporter of abortion conglomerate Planned Parenthood, having worn their infamous pins at several red carpet events and using his hit musical to <a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/lin-manuel-miranda-hamilton-planned-parenthood/">host a fundraiser</a> for the abortion mill. His mother, Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda, is also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/26969/new-york-times-writer-and-hamilton-creator-paul-bois">helping in the selection process</a> for Planned Parenthood&#8217;s replacement.
Needless to say, Lin-Manuel Miranda loves Planned Parenthood, an organization founded by a racist eugenicist which uses taxpayer funds to kill millions of black and Latino babies. For that reason alone, his singing a lullaby for immigrant children at a protest this weekend is little more than empty virtue-signaling.
&#8220;We&#8217;re here because there&#8217;s parents right now who can&#8217;t sing lullabies to their kids,&#8221; Miranda told the crowd of protesters in Washington, D.C. &#8220;And, well, I&#8217;m just going to sing a lullaby that I wrote and this is for those parents. And we&#8217;re not going to stop until they can sing them to their kids again.&#8221;
There are also millions of little children who will never hear a lullaby from their parents. In fact, they will never hear anything at all because they were erased from existence. Lin-Manuel Miranda has gone on record supporting that atrocity.
The acclaimed musician then launched into an a capella rendition of &#8220;Dear Theodosia&#8221; from his hit musical &#8220;Hamilton.&#8221;
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&#8220;Hamilton&#8221; creator Lin-Manuel Miranda dedicates lullaby to separated immigrant families: &#8220;We&#8217;re here because there&#8217;s parents right now who can&#8217;t sing lullabies to their kids&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/G40EcCxo0G">https://t.co/G40EcCxo0G</a> <a href="https://t.co/BqxPfHlow8">pic.twitter.com/BqxPfHlow8</a>
&#8212; CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/1013153197752553473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Singer Alicia Keys and actress America Ferrera then joined Lin-Manuel Miranda on the stage for some more virtue-signaling. Alicia Keys even claimed that President Trump could start separating American families.
&#8220;If it can happen to any child, it can happen to my child, and your child, and all of our children,&#8221; said Keys.

Planned Parenthood Supporter Lin-Manuel Miranda Sings Lullaby For Separated Immigrant Children

Abortion

Illegal Immigration

Planned Parenthood

Robert De Niro hasn&#8217;t made a decent movie in years (unless you consider &#8220;Dirty Grandpa&#8221; a good flick).
So, in order to get press, De Niro has been on a tear about President Trump. He&#8217;s gone to great lengths to shock: at the most recent Tony Awards, where he was giving out a statue, he yelled, &#8220;I&#8217;m gonna say one thing: &#8220;f*** Trump!&#8221;
But now he&#8217;s getting some push back &#8212; even in liberal New York City.
On Saturday, at a Broadway performance of the De Niro-directed musical &#8220;A Bronx Tale,&#8221; a Trump supporter stood up during the curtain call and hoisted a &#8220;Keep America Great!&#8221; flag.
&#8220;The times we live in,&#8221; tweeted audience member Joe Del Vicario. &#8220;At the end of A Bronx Tale, a man turned around and faced the audience to show us how big of a pair he has,&#8221; Del Vicario said. &#8220;He was escorted shortly after,&#8221; he wrote, lamenting how even a play is now politicized.
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The times we live in. At the end of A Bronx Tale, a man turned around and faced the audience to show us how big of a pair he has. He was escorted shortly after. It&#8217;s sad that people can&#8217;t enjoy a beautiful show and embrace its unifying message without politicizing it. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/broadway?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#broadway</a> <a href="https://t.co/6tVN4Qf4d6">pic.twitter.com/6tVN4Qf4d6</a>
&#8212; Joe Del Vicario (@joedelvicario_) <a href="https://twitter.com/joedelvicario_/status/1008176677141319680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 17, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Del Vicario said, &#8220;People pay for suspension of disbelief to escape our hyper-politicized society. Keep politics outside of the theater, regardless of where you fall on spectrum.&#8221;
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Not sure when it happened exactly. I find both disturbing to be honest. People pay for suspension of disbelief to escape our hyper-politicized society. Keep politics outside of the theater, regardless of where you fall on spectrum.
&#8212; Joe Del Vicario (@joedelvicario_) <a href="https://twitter.com/joedelvicario_/status/1008574982534914053?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Others, though, pointed out that it had happened before.
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yup. i remember the hamilton cast doing the same thing. last year&#8230;?
&#8212; EDnrguimnmeeerr (@drummercc) <a href="https://twitter.com/drummercc/status/1008567273936674816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
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In November 2016, Vice President-elect Mike Pence was harrassed at a Broadway showing of &#8220;Hamilton.&#8221;
&#8220;We, sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir,&#8221; cast member Brandon Dixon, who portrayed Aaron Burr in the Broadway play, said during a curtain call.
&#8220;But we truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and work on behalf of all of us. All of us.&#8221;
Some supported the demonstration at De Niro&#8217;s musical.
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Bravo Trump supporter!!! 
You should tell that to De Niro&#8230;nobody cares about celebs opinions..they live in their own world&#8230;everyone is always bashing our President who has done more (for free!) than Obummer did in 8 years put together!!
&#8212; Margarita (@Marg777) <a href="https://twitter.com/Marg777/status/1008695065387159554?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
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It&#8217;s sad when people can&#8217;t watch an award show without De Nero politicizing it. You double standard, hypocritical, snowflake.
&#8212; Jason Wooten (@wootdog4) <a href="https://twitter.com/wootdog4/status/1008708080027172864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Do you mean like the evening Vice President Pence was lectured to by the entire cast off Hamilton? You&#8217;re right. To bad people can&#8217;t go out and enjoy a show with it tonight into some political spectacle. But as they say, what goes around, comes around.
&#8212; Bart Palamaro (@Atlas0072) <a href="https://twitter.com/Atlas0072/status/1008695133955678210?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Trump Supporter Disrupts Robert De Niro’s Musical With ‘Keep America Great’ Flag

Mike Pence

The NFL, in an <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/2017/1/27/14416354/super-bowl-2017-nfl-hamilton-cast-sing-america-the-beautiful">indirect swipe</a> at President Trump, has announced that &#8220;America the Beautiful&#8221; will be sung by three former members of the cast of Broadway&#8217;s hit show Hamilton at the Super Bowl.
The three singers, Phillipa Soo, Renee Elise Goldsberry, and Jasmine Cephas Jones, were all part of the original Broadway cast.
In Mid-November, the cast of Hamilton stopped then-vice-president-elect Mike Pence, as he was leaving the show, and read a sanctimonious statement from the stage. As The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/us/mike-pence-hamilton.html?_r=0">reported</a>:
<blockquote>
The actor who played Aaron Burr, Brandon Victor Dixon, acknowledged that Mr. Pence was in the audience, thanked him for attending and added, &#8220;We have a little message for you, sir, and we hope you will hear us out. We, sir &#8212; we &#8212; are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf all of us.&#8221;
</blockquote>
Trump, insulted in behalf of Pence, fired back on Twitter:
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Our wonderful future V.P. Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton, cameras blazing.This should not happen!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/799972624713420804">November 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
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The Theater must always be a safe and special place.The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/799974635274194947">November 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Dixon fired back:
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<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump">@realDonaldTrump</a> conversation is not harassment sir. And I appreciate <a href="https://twitter.com/mike_pence">@mike_pence</a> for stopping to listen.
&#8212; Brandon Victor Dixon (@BrandonVDixon) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonVDixon/status/799977281875755008">November 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Trump responded again:
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The cast and producers of Hamilton, which I hear is highly overrated, should immediately apologize to Mike Pence for their terrible behavior
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/800298286204723200">November 20, 2016</a></blockquote>
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There&#8217;s no love lost between the NFL and Trump; Trump once nodded when asked if he would fire NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who has been plagued by numerous controversies in the last few years.
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Throwback to Donald Trump saying he would fire Roger Goodell if elected President <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MakeTheNFLGreatAgain?src=hash">#MakeTheNFLGreatAgain</a> <a href="https://t.co/XzXTLlMKDH">pic.twitter.com/XzXTLlMKDH</a>
&#8212; NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) <a href="https://twitter.com/NFL_Memes/status/796377519356342273">November 9, 2016</a></blockquote>
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After a woman fainted at one of his rallies, then returned, Trump <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-players-rip-donald-trump-for-his-take-on-concussions/">called</a> NFL players soft, asserting, &#8220;That woman was out cold, and now she&#8217;s coming back. See, we don&#8217;t go by these new, and very much softer, NFL rules. Concussions &#8212; &#8216;Uh oh, got a little ding on the head? No, no, you can&#8217;t play for the rest of the season&#8217; &#8212; our people are tough.&#8221;
There are any number of gifted performers who could have sung &#8220;America the Beautiful.&#8221; The NFL must be quite aware of the hostility between Trump and the Hamilton cast, and the selection of the singers from the cast is a genuine slap in the face.

NFL SLAPS TRUMP: Hamilton Cast Members To Sing ‘America The Beautiful’  At Super Bowl

Super Bowl

As Daily Wire contributor John Nolte <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/10942/hamilton-cast-and-audience-boo-and-bully-vp-elect-john-nolte">discussed </a>at length on Saturday, Vice President-elect Mike Pence mistakenly decided to attend a showing of the musical &#8220;Hamilton&#8221; alongside his family, <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/hamilton-cast-makes-direct-plea-mike-pence-audience-n686116">including his daughter and his nieces</a>, on Friday. This was apparently the perfect time and place for holier-than-thou &#8220;Hamilton&#8221; actor Brandon Victor Dixon to lectured Pence about the importance of inclusivity and respect from atop a mountain of unearned moral superiority while the rest of the New York City elites in attendance booed the Indiana native. 
Here&#8217;s how it went down, via The New York Times:
<blockquote>
As the play ended, the actor who played Aaron Burr, Brandon Victor Dixon, acknowledged that Mr. Pence was in the audience, thanked him for attending and added, &#8220;We hope you will hear us out.&#8221;
&#8220;We, sir &#8212; we &#8212; are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf all of us.&#8221;
The audience broke out in enthusiastic applause and cheers.
Mr. Pence was leaving as Mr. Dixon began to read the statement from the stage. A show spokesman said that Mr. Pence stood in the hallway outside the entrance to the auditorium and heard the full remarks.
</blockquote>
But, plot-twist: Mr. Inclusive has a dicey history of &#8220;locker-room talk&#8221; himself, namely a number of racially-charged and sexist tweets. 
In other words, Dixon is a total fraud. 
In 2012, the actor explained that St. Patrick&#8217;s day is like &#8220;Christmas for black dudes who like white chicks.&#8221; 
&#8220;St. Patty&#8217;s day weekend is like Christmas for black dudes who like white chicks. Happy holidays boys,&#8221; he wrote, attaching a #seasonsgreetings hashtag. 
<div class="media_embed">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
St. Patty&#8217;s day weekend is like Christmas for black dudes who like white chicks. Happy holidays boys. <a href="https://twitter.com/reesewaters">@reesewaters</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/seasonsgreetings?src=hash">#seasonsgreetings</a>
&#8212; Brandon Victor Dixon (@BrandonVDixon) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonVDixon/status/181049423508422658">March 17, 2012</a></blockquote>
</div>
More disturbingly, in 2013, Dixon rated the following comment as &#8220;The. Best.&#8221;: &#8220;4 every racist comment I get about Trayvon Im going 2 turn 1 white married suburban housewife &amp; mother n2 a jump off.&#8221;
Basically, this tweet is advocating for turning &#8220;white suburban&#8221; housewives into his own casual sex partners.
<div class="media_embed">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
&#8220;<a href="https://twitter.com/jleefilm">@jleefilm</a>: 4 every racist comment I get about Trayvon Im going 2 turn 1 white married suburban housewife &amp; mother n2 a jump off&#8221; The. Best.
&#8212; Brandon Victor Dixon (@BrandonVDixon) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonVDixon/status/357738652987686912">July 18, 2013</a></blockquote>
</div>
And more sexism: The lecturing elitist kindly explains to the world that &#8220;ho&#8217;s [sic] aren&#8217;t what they used to be.&#8221; NFL stars, for instance, &#8220;wouldn&#8217;t get distracted&#8221; if said &#8220;ho&#8217;s [sic]&#8221; would &#8220;step up&#8221; their &#8220;game.&#8221;
<div class="media_embed">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/TAMIKASLAWRENCE">@TAMIKASLAWRENCE</a> the problem is ho&#8217;s aren&#8217;t what they used to be. If ho game would step up, cats wouldn&#8217;t get distracted.
&#8212; Brandon Victor Dixon (@BrandonVDixon) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonVDixon/status/350268800291192834">June 27, 2013</a></blockquote>
</div>
Hmm. Just a thought here, but maybe Dixon should take a look in the mirror before lecturing an upstanding citizen like Mike Pence&#8211;who actually responded to the actor&#8217;s condescension with grace and dignity&#8211;about inclusivity and respect.

The Star of ‘Hamilton’ Who Lectured Pence Has a Dicey History of ‘Locker Room Talk’

New York City

Theater

Many of those intrepid members of the cast of Hamilton who braved the terrifying prospect of a Donald Trump presidency to deliver a lecture to Vice President-elect Mike Pence about how he should govern have eschewed voting for years.
According to <a href="http://radaronline.com/celebrity-news/mike-pence-hamilton-scandal-cast-voting-records/">Radar Online</a>, here&#8217;s a brief list of some of the self-important busybodies who felt free to teach Mike Pence how to govern but haven&#8217;t even bothered to vote in previous years.
Javier Munoz, who was playing Alexander Hamilton, registered to vote in 2006 and voted in the mid-term elections, but records since 2006 have no record of him voting;
Seth Stewart, playing Thomas Jefferson, voted in 2008, but did not vote in 2012;
Okieriete &#8220;Oak&#8221; Onaodowan, who plays James Madison and Hercules Mulligan, registered to vote in 2005 but there is no record of him voting since.
Anthony Ramos Martinez, playing Hamilton&#8217;s eldest son Philip, registered to vote in 2012, but hasn&#8217;t voted since then.
The brouhaha started when Brandon Dixon, who plays Aaron Burr, read the message to Pence after the Friday performance. The New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/us/mike-pence-hamilton.html">reported</a> that the message was written by show creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, director Thomas Kail and lead producer, Jeffrey Seller. It read:
<blockquote>
We, sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights. We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us.
</blockquote>
Seller rationalized the cast&#8217;s actions after the message was delivered, moaning that they could barely perform after the election results were announced:
<blockquote>
We had to ask ourselves, how do we cope with this? Our cast could barely go on stage the day after the election. The election was painful and crushing to all of us here. We all struggled with what was the appropriate and respectful and proper response. We are honored that Mr. Pence attended the show, and we had to use this opportunity to express our feelings.
</blockquote>
The crowd both cheered and booed Pence when he entered. Donald Trump responded to the cast&#8217;s actions by tweeting:
<div class="media_embed">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Our wonderful future V.P. Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton, cameras blazing.This should not happen!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/799972624713420804">November 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
</div>
Dixon tweeted back:
<div class="media_embed">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump">@realDonaldTrump</a> conversation is not harassment sir. And I appreciate <a href="https://twitter.com/mike_pence">@mike_pence</a> for stopping to listen.
&#8212; Brandon Victor Dixon (@BrandonVDixon) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonVDixon/status/799977281875755008">November 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
</div>
Trump demanded an apology from the cast on Twitter; Dixon <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hamilton-actor-apologize-mike-pence-2016-11">told </a>CBS This Morning on Monday, &#8220;There&#8217;s nothing to apologize for.&#8221;

Those Obnoxious Hamilton Stars? Some Haven’t Voted For Years.

Over the weekend, media went apoplectic over the scandal of the day: Vice President-Elect Mike Pence visited Broadway to see Hamilton, received a lecture on governance from the Kennedy School graduate actors and actresses of the show, and then President-Elect Donald Trump tweeted about it. The actor who played Vice President Aaron Burr, Brandon Victor Dixon, lectured Pence thusly: &#8220;We, sir &#8212; we &#8212; are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us.&#8221;
That prompted Trump to tweet, &#8220;Our wonderful future VP Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton, cameras blazing. This should not happen! The Theater must always be a safe and special place. The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize! The cast and producers of Hamilton, which I hear is highly overrated, should immediately apologize to Mike Pence for their terrible behavior.&#8221;
The media made this front-page news: the President-Elect attacked the theater! He&#8217;s quashing free speech! This is near-censorship! Oh My God WE&#8217;RE ALL GONNA DIE!
Here are five thoughts.
1. Trump&#8217;s Right About Hamilton. It&#8217;s the most overrated Broadway show since Rent. The plot&#8217;s compelling, but the score is sparse, and the lyrics are inexact. It&#8217;s poor craft. Beyond that, the notion, promoted by the press, that the story of Alexander Hamilton can only become relatable to minority audiences if the cast members are members of minorities is insulting. Want to watch a great musical about the founding? Try 1776.
2. The Cast Of Hamilton Are Jerks. Pence paid to go to the show. He is a patron. That means he should have been treated with the same respect as any other patron. If the cast didn&#8217;t want to perform in front of him, they could have taken the night off. To lecture a member of the audience because you don&#8217;t like his politics is grandstanding. Ability to act and read lines doesn&#8217;t make this any better. Imagine going to a restaurant and being lectured by your waiter. That&#8217;s what happened to Pence.
3. The Cultural Divide Between New York And Red America Is Vast. Everybody in New York is apparently upset with Trump over the Hamilton car crash. Nobody in middle America cares. While the media go nuts over a bunch of coastal elites slapping each other, the middle of the country just sees a bunch of people who sing and dance for a living lecturing the guys they just elected to high office. Nobody&#8217;s losing any sleep in Ohio about Trump smacking down Tony nominees.
4. Trump Should Have Shut Up. This is a game we&#8217;ll be playing a lot over the next couple of years: put the shoe on the other foot. Conservatives, how would you feel if Joe Biden attended a NASCAR event and got booed, then Barack Obama went on Twitter and said fans should &#8220;apologize&#8221; to Biden, and called NASCAR &#8220;overrated&#8221;? Would you be offended? Would you think Obama should shut up? Of course you would. In fact, conservatives went nuts &#8211; justifiably &#8211; when Obama routinely attacked talk radio and Fox News. The same holds true for Trump. Yes, there&#8217;s something deliciously schadenfreudelicious about Trump punching Broadway. But he&#8217;s the president, not a pundit. He&#8217;s got higher obligations.
5. The Media Are Nuts For Making This A High Priority. As I said on CNN yesterday, &#8220;I would recommend that the media kind of take a second look at how much focus they put on things like this because if you&#8217;re going to turn it all the way up to 11 on a Hamilton tweet, this is going to be a long presidency for all of you.&#8221; In the past few days, Trump has met with Indian business partners who are building Trump-branded apartments; Trump&#8217;s kids are attending president-elect functions; the Washington Post reported that Trump Hotel in DC invited reps from local embassies post-election &#8220;to encourage them to use it when leaders from their countries visited Washington.&#8221; This is troubling stuff. But the media blew it all out of the water by focusing on Hamilton. The press deafened us all by turning it up to 11 about Mitt Romney in 2012, so nobody could hear what they had to say about Trump in 2016. The same&#8217;s going to go for the entire Trump administration, if the media keep this stupidity up.
Hamilton does tell us a good deal about how the cultural divide will continue to widen in Trump&#8217;s America. Between leftists using every avenue to whine about politics and Donald Trump refusing to filter his thoughts from the White House, things are going to get worse, not better. But Trump&#8217;s unlikely to be the one to pay the political price.

5 Thoughts On The ‘Hamilton’ vs. Trump Kerfuffle

Friday evening, Vice President-elect Mike Pence attended the Broadway hit musical, Hamilton. As <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/10943/trump-rips-hamilton-casts-insulting-treatment-james-barrett">Daily Wire</a> previously reported, the audience booed Pence and his family as he entered the theatre.
After the show, actor Brandon Victor Dixon delivered a public address to Pence from the stage:
<blockquote>
&#8220;Vice President-Elect Pence, I see you walking out, but I hope you hear us, just a few more moments. There is nothing to boo here ladies and gentlemen, there is nothing to boo here. We are all here sharing a story of love. We have a message for you sir and we hope that you will here us out.
We have a message for you sir, and we hope that you will here us out. We, sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir. But we truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us&#8211;all of us.&#8221;
</blockquote>
<iframe loading="lazy" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aWlwrUFiuUw" width="560"></iframe>
The Broadway cast had every right to do what they did. Free speech is the foundation upon which all other freedoms are built. However, it simply continued the long-standing trend of smug, self-congratulatory artists patting themselves on the back for sticking it to the man. Moreover, it accomplished absolutely nothing. Everyone who isn&#8217;t dead knows that the Left despises Donald Trump and Mike Pence; everyone has a relative or friend marching in the streets against the fairly-elected Trump; everyone sees the endless social media screeds against the president-elect. So, while the actions of the Hamilton cast are hardly surprising, it doesn&#8217;t make them any less masturbatory.
On the other hand, Donald Trump didn&#8217;t make anything better by tweeting about it. On Saturday, Trump sent out two tweets:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Our wonderful future V.P. Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton, cameras blazing.This should not happen!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/799972624713420804">November 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
The Theater must always be a safe and special place.The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/799974635274194947">November 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
In turn, Trump supporters started a #BoycottHamilton protest, which is a very difficult thing to do, given the show is sold out through January, and secondary tickets from vendors like StubHub sell for hundreds or thousands of dollars.
Trump still can&#8217;t let it go, sending out a third tweet Sunday:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
The cast and producers of Hamilton, which I hear is highly overrated, should immediately apologize to Mike Pence for their terrible behavior
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/800298286204723200">November 20, 2016</a></blockquote>
For his part, Pence has been extremely gracious. Speaking with Fox News&#8217; Chris Wallace Sunday, the vice president-elect said:
<blockquote>
&#8220;First off, my daughter and I&#8211;and her cousins&#8211;really enjoyed the show. Hamilton is just an incredible production, and incredibly talented people. It was a real joy to be there. When we arrived, we heard a few boos and we heard some cheers and I nudged my kids and reminded them, that&#8217;s what freedom sounds like.
But at the end, I did hear what was said from the stage, and I can tell you I wasn&#8217;t offended by what was said. I&#8217;ll leave to others whether that was the appropriate venue to say it.&#8221;
</blockquote>
Pence then opened up to a more broad response to the specific concerns addressed by the Hamilton cast:
<blockquote>
&#8220;I do want to say that that the basic element, the center of that message is one that I want to address. I know this is a very disappointing time for people that did not see their candidate win in this national election. I know this is a very angry time for some people, and I just want to reassure people that what President-elect Donald Trump said on election night, he absolutely meant, from the bottom of his heart. He is preparing to be the president of all of the people of the United States of America.
And to watch him bringing together people of diverse views, bringing together people that differed with him strongly, seeing him talk to leaders from around the world; I just want to reassure every American that in the days ahead, I&#8217;m very confident that they&#8217;re going to see President-elect Donald Trump be a president for all of the people. We embrace that principle, and we&#8217;re going to work hard to make that principle every day that we serve.&#8221;
</blockquote>
<iframe loading="lazy" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NDsvnMtVS5w" width="560"></iframe>
Wallace asked Pence if he wanted an apology, and Pence reiterated his previous statement: &#8220;I&#8217;ll leave to others whether it was the appropriate venue for that.&#8221; He then told Wallace to go see Hamilton if he hadn&#8217;t, calling it &#8220;great, great show.&#8221;
At this moment, Donald Trump is still engaging in useless and embarrassing word-wars over subjects that deserve no attention. The president-elect has much to learn from Mike Pence in terms of graciousness, and perhaps he will over the coming four years.
The Left thrives on the politics of fear, and the Hamilton incident was a prime example of that. Brandon Victor Dixon&#8217;s monologue to Mike Pence checked all the right boxes: He delivered it to a captive audience in a very public arena; although the words he used to address Pence were outwardly diplomatic, the undertones were clear: Americans should be afraid of Mike Pence and Donald Trump; he made Pence look like a villain, and himself look like a folk hero speaking for a besieged and monolithic minority; he likely knew that cameras would be there to capture the entire thing, which would go viral among an upset contingent of Americans, further ginning up fear and anger.
Dixon&#8217;s address helps to advance a very carefully-crafted story of good versus evil that the Left has been telling since the election. They need to reduce the complexity of Donald Trump and Mike Pence as human beings in order to sell them as an empirically evil force that should be resisted at all costs.
The best thing to do when progressives use this line of attack is to either let it go unanswered, or to reply with a calm and reasoned argument. Trump opted for door number three, angrily attacking the Hamilton cast. This simply serves to feed the beast, and further the progressive narrative that Trump and Pence are to be feared.
Donald Trump needs to learn that Twitter feuds do nothing but hurt him and his allies.

Trump’s Continued Attack on Hamilton Versus Pence’s Gracious Acceptance

On Sunday, Daily Wire Editor-In-Chief Ben Shapiro appeared on CNN&#8217;s Reliable Sources to discuss the media brouhaha engendered by Donald Trump&#8217;s tweets in which he attacked the cast of Hamilton for their lecturing of Vice-President-Elect Mike Pence. Shapiro and host Brian Stelter also discussed the cast of Saturday Night Live attacking Trump in their most recent episode. During the segment, Shapiro consistently pointed out that the same actions of Trump being criticized by the media had been executed by Barack Obama for eight years.
Shapiro was accompanied by CNN&#8217;s Salena Zito and the New York Times&#8217; Charles Blow on the panel. Stelter began by commenting that Trump could not resist lashing out on Twitter, citing Trump&#8217;s tweets:
<div class="media_embed">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Our wonderful future V.P. Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton, cameras blazing.This should not happen!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/799972624713420804">November 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="media_embed">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
The Theater must always be a safe and special place.The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/799974635274194947">November 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="media_embed">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
The cast and producers of Hamilton, which I hear is highly overrated, should immediately apologize to Mike Pence for their terrible behavior
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/800298286204723200">November 20, 2016</a></blockquote>
</div>

<div class="media_embed">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I watched parts of <a href="https://twitter.com/nbcsnl">@nbcsnl</a> Saturday Night Live last night. It is a totally one-sided, biased show &#8211; nothing funny at all. Equal time for us?
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/800329364986626048">November 20, 2016</a></blockquote>
</div>

Stelter opined, &#8220;I&#8217;m speechless &#8230; The big question is now, is President-Elect Trump going to continue to make the media a real issue? Or is this all just a big distraction; would he rather have people talking about his tweets than the various controversies he&#8217;s facing and his conflicts of interests involving his businesses?&#8221;
Stelter asked if Trump was tweeting his attacks to distract from other issues. Blow responded that Trump, as someone who grew up in Queens, was still focused on the New York City orbit, and thus was attacking New York media. &#8220;It&#8217;s almost as if he has not completely moved into the realm of being the president of the entire United States.&#8221;
Referring to Trump&#8217;s tweet stating, &#8220;This should not happen,&#8221; Stelter said that Trump&#8217;s comment could have a chilling effect on free speech. Shapiro responded:
<blockquote>
It isn&#8217;t my favorite thing; I would recommend that conservatives who look at President-Elect Trump doing this and saying, &#8220;Well, it seems okay to me,&#8221; just imagine if the shoe were on the other foot for a second and it were Barack Obama lecturing NASCAR fans as he got booed at some sort of NASCAR event. It doesn&#8217;t seem totally appropriate for the president-elect of the United States to be doing this. On the other hand, I would recommend that the media kind of take a second look at how much focus they put on things like this because if you&#8217;re going to turn it all the way up to 11 on a Hamilton tweet, this is going to be a long presidency for all of you.
</blockquote>
When Stelter asked if Shapiro thought the media had indeed &#8220;turned it up to 11,&#8221; Shapiro reiterated:
<blockquote>
Yeah, I think the mainstream media has been at 11 since the election and I think that means there&#8217;s no place to turn it from there; I think this is sort of the problem with the 2016 election. I think there were a lot of aspersions cast at Mitt Romney, and then when you came back in 2016 and cast the same aspersions at Donald Trump, who was a very different candidate, I think a lot of people just tuned it out.
I really think the media is in danger of blowing its credibility if they&#8217;re going to be so exuberant of covering every aspect of Trump&#8217;s foibles, because there are going to be some things he does which are actually probably not very good, and you&#8217;re going to want people to pay attention to it, and if you pay the same amount of attention to a Hamilton tweet that you do to for example something that I think is significantly more troubling, President-Elect Trump meeting with business partners from India while he&#8217;s the president-elect; that seems to me something where you ought to be putting more focus if you&#8217;re actually going to point out problems here..
</blockquote>
In the next segment, Stelter wanted to talk about the issue the media had with Trump because he went out unaccompanied by the press pool&#8211;something very unusual. Former ABC White House Correspondent Ann Compton, who replaced Zito on the panel, pointed out that for 50 years, the president had been accompanied by the press pool. She stated, &#8220;Access to the president has to be in person by the reporters covering the White House covering the president or president-elect where he is. In advance, the Trump organization was told that if they just handed out a photo that was taken by the Trump staff or by the Japanese, that the American media won&#8217;t use it. If it&#8217;s an event which should be open to press coverage, the media is not going to use the photographs any more that they would take a written print-out of the president or president-elect and read it on the air.&#8221;
Stelter turned to Shapiro, who commented:
<blockquote>
I think the expectation that he will make himself available to the press is a good one, and I hope that he does do that, especially after he becomes president. I think there may be some different standards for president-elects than presidents; Ann would know that better than I would. But beyond that, the press access for the last eight years has been quite terrible, and many members of the press have complained about this. The White House was releasing its own photos and tapes of events and not really allowing the press to cover it in the way the press wanted to cover it. For years, the DOJ was targeting people at the AP. There have been a lot of problems between the White House and the press long pre-dating Donald Trump. That&#8217;s not an excuse for Trump not to do the right thing here, but it is worth putting in context.
</blockquote>
When Stelter asked Shapiro about the numerous figures in the right-wing media that have been bandied about as possible Trump appointees or advisors, Shapiro pointed out that, again, those kinds of actions were not unprecedented, and it was important to see the situation in context, as Obama had acted similarly by appointing figures from left-wing media.
Stelter replied, &#8220;You may say left-wing media; I wouldn&#8217;t call Time Magazine left-wing, but Jay Carney did come over from TIME to become the White House press secretary.&#8221;
Shapiro grinned, &#8220;Some of us would. There you have it.&#8221; He continued:
<blockquote>
But the bottom line is, the reality is, that some of the issues that we&#8217;ve been discussing there will be a bit of a disconnect between the media and the rest of the United states because the way that people read media stories is that they read them as binaries, with good guys and bad guys. And so when you have Trump attacking Hamilton, or you have Trump attacking SNL, a lot of people across the country, instead of looking at what&#8217;s appropriate for a president to do, they go, &#8220;Okay, so someone attacked SNL. Who cares? Okay, someone attacked Hamilton. Do I really care about that? Is that something that matters to me?&#8221;
While a lot of folks in the media, and a lot of people who watch the presidency, we say, &#8220;This is not a great thing, when he&#8217;s attacking private citizens,&#8221; and again, if Obama had done the same thing for people on the right, and he did do the same thing many times, we complained about it very loudly, I think there&#8217;s a likelihood that a lot of people are just going to say, &#8220;This is not a big deal. Why should we focus so much on a Broadway show and a spat between the President of the United States and some actors.&#8221;
</blockquote>
Parts one and two of the segment are below:

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