Trump’s ‘Hamilton’ attack distracts from scandals, experts say

He has only a few weeks left to find a dozen more cabinet secretaries and 4,000 appointees to staff his White House and the rest of his government. He is paying out $25 million to settle claims that he defrauded students with a sham university, while facing intense pressure to rid himself of business interests that may conflict with the country’s.

Yet US president-elect Donald Trump made time over the weekend to post a series of complaints online about the the country's most acclaimed musical, after its cast dared to ask Trump's administration to "work on behalf of all of us" despite his racist rhetoric.

"The cast and producers of Hamilton, which I hear is highly overrated, should immediately apologize to Mike Pence for their terrible behavior," Mr Trump tweeted on Sunday morning.

It was his fourth separate condemnation of the Broadway sensation since the curtain call of Friday evening's performance, when a lead actor read a statement from the stage to Pence, Trump's vice-president, who was booed by members of the audience as he took his seat.

"We, sir, are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us," said Brandon Victor Dixon, who plays vice-president Aaron Burr and is one of several black actors in the cast. "But we truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us."

Corporate misdeeds

Trump’s decision to lash out, even as his transition team reels from chaotic infighting, was widely ridiculed. But some White House veterans said it was a deliberate attempt to distract Americans from corporate misdeeds that are unprecedented for an incoming president.

"The controversies will divert you from the scandals," said David Frum, a former speechwriter to president George W Bush.

Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior aide to Barack Obama, said: "If your media outlet is focused on Trump v Hamilton instead of Trump's $25 million fraud settlement, you are a sad pawn in Trump's game."

Trump has agreed to pay $25 million to settle lawsuits from thousands of students who alleged they were tricked into paying up to $35,000 to learn Trump’s “real estate secrets” at Trump University. If the lawsuit had continued, lawyers could have forced Trump to become the first sitting president to testify in open court.

Business activity

Trump has also immediately violated a promise to separate his business activity from the presidency, prompting suggestions that he will violate the US constitution, which bans public officials from receiving payments from foreign states, the moment he is inaugurated.

Dozens of foreign diplomats were last week invited to a corporate sales pitch at Trump's new hotel in Washington DC. He has allowed his daughter Ivanka, a senior executive in his corporation, to join his meeting with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. And he met Indian business partners in Trump Tower between interviewing potential cabinet appointees.

Trump’s remarks on Hamilton did overshadow coverage of his corporate affairs in many US media outlets on Sunday. They also featured the type of falsehoods that have come to define his public statements since he began his campaign for the presidency in June 2015.

He accused the musical’s cast of being “very rude” to Pence, the ultra-conservative governor of Indiana, and of harassing him from the stage.

While Pence was booed earlier by other members of the public at Manhattan's Richard Rodgers Theatre, Dixon actually twice urged the crowd not to boo while he read his statement and thanked Pence emphatically for attending the show.

‘Anxious time’

In one of Trump’s four tweets about the show, he mocked Dixon for reading the statement from a prepared card. “Couldn’t even memorize lines!” he said. Trump subsequently deleted this tweet.

Pence himself played down the commotion when interviewed on Sunday. “I wasn’t offended by what was said,” he told Fox News. He praised the show and said he and his family enjoyed it.

Addressing the request at the heart of the cast’s statement, Pence said he understood this was “a very anxious time” for people who had opposed Trump and promised he would work on uniting a divided country.

"He is preparing to be the president of all of the people of the United States of America," said Pence.

Hamilton, which won 11 Tony awards, a Grammy and a Pulitzer prize, has also received plaudits for its multiracial casting and diverse musical heritage. It was conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda, a Puerto Rican-American dramatist.

Miranda supported Hillary Clinton, Trump's Democratic opponent, and hosted a special performance of Hamilton in July to raise money for her campaign. "Are you going to vote for the guy who wants to build a wall or for someone who's building bridges?" he asked.

Previews for a London staging of the show, which is sold out in New York until the end of the summer, are expected to begin in October 2017.

– (Guardian service)