Echoing a line from his hit Broadway musical "Hamilton," Lin-Manuel Miranda on Monday condemned presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump's nativist ideology, reminding the graduating class of the University of Pennsylvania of the stories and contributions of immigrants to America.
"In a year when politicians traffic in anti-immigrant rhetoric," he said, "there is also a Broadway musical reminding us that a broke, orphan immigrant from the West Indies built our financial system, a story that reminds us that since the beginning of the great, unfinished symphony that is our American experiment, time and time again, immigrants get the job done."
While Miranda was not referring to Trump directly in his commencement address, the sentiment was clear, and his remarks were met with a standing ovation from the students and the university's president.
The Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner did not throw away his shot, drawing on themes from "Hamilton" to encourage students to tell diverse stories.
"Your stories are essential," Miranda said. "There will be blind alleys and one-night wonders and soul-crushing jobs and wake-up calls and crises of confidence, and moments of transcendence when you are walking down the street, and someone will thank you for telling their story because it resonated with their own."
Trump's daughter Tiffany was among this year's Penn graduates. While the real estate mogul did not attend Monday's event, he was seen at Sunday's College of Arts and Sciences graduation ceremony -- which Vice President Joe Biden also attended to support his granddaughter Naomi.
Like Miranda, many prominent speakers have indirectly referenced Trump's ideas and rhetoric in commencement speeches this year.
Just a day earlier, President Barack Obama criticized the isolationism and anti-intellectualism that leaders like Trump represent.
“In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue,” he told students at Rutgers University. “It’s not cool to not know what you’re talking about. That’s not keeping it real, or telling it like it is. That’s not challenging political correctness. That’s just not knowing what you’re talking about.”
Obama also took a shot at Trump's proposal to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The world is more interconnected than ever before,” he said. “Building a wall won’t change that.”
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.
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