Advertisement

Lin-Manuel Miranda on Why Donald Trump ‘Made Me Sick To My Stomach’

Lin-Manuel Miranda has long stumped for Hillary Clinton, but he explained why Donald Trump would be a dangerous president in a new interview with Variety. In a passionate conversation for this week’s cover story in Variety‘s 2016 Gotham Issue, Miranda outlined the case against Trump.

What remains to be said?” he asked. “I got interviewed a year ago and I said he was ‘an annoyance gone national’ — that was very early in the primary — but I think we’ve long since crossed that line.”

“He earned my contempt with his comments on John McCain, and his doubling down on the Gold Star family just made me sick to my stomach,” he continued, referring to Trump’s dismissive response to the DNC speech of Khizr Khan, the father of a U.S. soldier who died in a car bombing in Iraq, and to McCain’s statement defending Khan and his family. “It made me sick to my stomach that a candidate, who is seen by the rest of the world, is going after a military family. There’s no excuse for it. And his defense: ‘I was attacked?’ What do you think is going to happen when you’re president? If you can’t handle a speech, how are you going to handle aggression from another country? That really scared a lot of people, and it scared me.”

Miranda is a Hillary supporter, as evidenced by the extra matinee performance that “Hamilton” added in July as a fundraiser for Clinton. But this election season, the “Hamilton” creator-star is focused on getting out the vote, no matter what side you’re one, via three TV spots (two in English, one in Spanish) produced by the “Hamilton” production and Miranda’s company, 5000 Broadway Productions.

If you’re for voter suppression, if you don’t believe your ideals stand up to the voting booth, then you are for the losing side,” he said. “My goal is to get everyone voting as much as possible. Because you don’t want 40% of the nation to decide who our president is. You want a majority. You want a mandate. You want to hear the will of the electorate. Whether that breaks with my personal interest or not, it is in the interest of the common good for as many people to show up as possible.”

Related stories

Lin-Manuel Miranda Remembers His Hardest Days in 'Hamilton'

Lin-Manuel Miranda Shares Secrets of 'Mary Poppins Returns,' 'Little Mermaid' Love

'Hamilton' Star Lin-Manuel Miranda Is Ready for His Next Coup

Get more from Variety and Variety411: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter