--- title: Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda: 2016 Election Similar to 1800 description: The star and creator of Broadway hit Hamilton said he thinks the 2016 presidential race is "no more bizarre than the election in 1800" canonical: https://time.com/4353996/hamilton-lin-manuel-miranda-2016-election/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-01T18:31:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:07.173Z article:section: Politics og:title: Lin-Manuel Miranda: 2016 Election 'No More Bizarre' Than 1800 og:description: "That, weirdly, gives me hope" og:url: https://time.com/4353996/hamilton-lin-manuel-miranda-2016-election/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4e4f3be10d4847a/698895dcbc6cfc6acb3dd364/lin-manuel-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: 2016 John Jay College Educating For Justice Gala og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lin-Manuel Miranda: 2016 Election 'No More Bizarre' Than 1800 twitter:description: "That, weirdly, gives me hope" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4e4f3be10d4847a/698895dcbc6cfc6acb3dd364/lin-manuel-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lin-Manuel Miranda: 2016 Race 'No More Bizarre' Than Election of 1800 > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jun 1, 2016 6:31 PM UTC  Creator of the hit Broadway play 'Hamiliton', Lin-Manuel Miranda attends the 2016 John Jay College Educating For Justice Gala at on May 23 in New York City. Creator of the hit Broadway play 'Hamiliton', Lin-Manuel Miranda attends the 2016 John Jay College Educating For Justice Gala at on May 23 in New York City. Desiree Navarro/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jun 1, 2016 6:31 PM UTC The [star and creator of _Hamilton_](http://time.com/4299633/lin-manuel-miranda-2016-time-100/)—the [hit Broadway musical](http://time.com/4315150/tony-nominations-hamilton-2016/) about the life of a Founding Father—said he thinks the 2016 presidential race is “no more bizarre than the election in 1800.” Lin-Manuel Miranda, who appears on the [June cover of _Rolling Stone_](http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/hamilton-creator-lin-manuel-miranda-the-rolling-stone-interview-20160601?page=6), said he sees parallels between the political debates at the country’s founding and the debates still driving the current presidential campaign. “The same fights we have over the role of our government now and the size of our government now are the fights they were having. Add the brutality of slavery to that mix as an undercurrent in all of those decisions,” Miranda said during the _Rolling Stone_ interview. “So I guess the biggest takeaway is, yes, this election cycle is bizarre. But it’s no more bizarre than the election in 1800, wherein Jefferson accused Adams of being a hermaphrodite and Adams responded by \[spreading rumors\] that Jefferson died, so Adams would be the only viable candidate. He was counting on news to travel slow! That, weirdly, gives me hope.” **Read more:** [Why History Has Its Eyes on _Hamilton_’s Diversity](http://time.com/4149415/hamilton-broadway-diversity/) Miranda also compared some of presumptive Republican nominee [Donald Trump’s immigration policies](http://time.com/4342885/donald-trump-immigration-hispanic-evangelicals/) to the ways immigrants have been treated throughout history. “I can tell you that Trump’s politics about [building a wall](http://time.com/4281926/donald-trump-mexico-border-wall-explanation/), that’s old,” Miranda said. “And it’s such a malignant form of a very common American electoral disease, which is, ‘Point at the newest people here and say they’re the reason you’re broke.’ That’s as old as time itself. That’s ‘Irish Need Not Apply.’ That’s \[Pat\] Buchanan in the ’90s. And it’s finding purchase with Trump right now.” Miranda added that he won’t get involved in campaign appearances for Trump or likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the general election. “I don’t feel the need to get in the middle of that,” he said. “Just get out and vote.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4353996/hamilton-lin-manuel-miranda-2016-election/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4353996/hamilton-lin-manuel-miranda-2016-election/"},"headline":"Lin-Manuel Miranda: 2016 Race 'No More Bizarre' Than Election of 1800","datePublished":"2016-06-01T18:31:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:07.173Z","description":"\"This election cycle is bizarre. 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