Like Trump, ‘Hamilton was an immigration hawk,’ Rush Limbaugh says
If the actors in the hit broadway musical Hamilton knew anything about the real Alexander Hamilton, they might not like him so much, said conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.
At the end of a Nov. 18 Hamilton performance, cast members made an appeal to Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who was in attendance and had been booed by some in the audience. Speaking for the cast, Brandon Victor Dixon (who portrays Aaron Burr) said they hoped the show inspired Pence to work on behalf of all Americans and uphold the country’s collective values.
But the real Alexander Hamilton, as opposed to the character in the musical, might not be the role model for Pence the cast members would like, Limbaugh said on his show Nov. 21. The ten-dollar founding father and first secretary of the Treasury believed in monarchy and aristocracy, and he even held tough views on immigration that were similar to Trump’s.
“Do you know that Alexander Hamilton was an immigration hawk?” Limbaugh said. “I wonder if the people in this cast have any idea who they are lionizing and celebrating. This guy’s Donald Trump.”
A Fact Check found Limbaugh’s claim about Hamilton only HALF TRUE. Hamilton occasionally argued for policies that would encourage immigration. In his 1791 Report on Manufactures, for example, he said manufacturing would benefit the United States in part because it would invite immigrants, expanding the population and labor force. But he also supported the Alien and Sedition Acts, which, among other things, allowed the President great power to remove politically unpopular immigrants from the country.
KJ