Stephen Miller’s daily conference calls routinely descend into him loudly berating staff and launching into full-on meltdowns, insiders have revealed.
A lengthy Atlantic profile of the White House deputy chief of staff details how Miller’s 10 a.m. calls—which take place even on Saturdays—give the 40-year-old a chance to act like a “wartime general” and shout at those he believes are not doing enough to push his agenda.
One senior official said Miller’s leadership of these meetings often descends into “hectoring” rather than productive feedback. “He pushes everybody to the absolute limit because he knows that the clock is ticking,” the unnamed official said. “He gets on the phone and he yells at everybody. Nobody is spared from his wrath.”
Miller is widely seen as the architect behind some of Trump’s most hardline immigration policies in both of the president’s terms in office. Last year, Miller demanded that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detain as many as 3,000 immigrants a day in order to fulfill Trump’s plan to carry out the largest mass deportation in U.S. history.
Miller demands daily updates on the number of detentions and deportations being carried out, and frequently uses these meetings to call out those falling short.
“If there’s a problem and you’re the owner, you have to fix it quickly,” another official who regularly joins the conference calls told The Atlantic. “It’s not a place where you can say, ‘I have to get back to you.’”
Miller, whose extremist views have led to him being labeled a white supremacist and compared to the Harry Potter villain Voldemort, is known for his unhinged outbursts and rants on news networks such as Fox News.
Steve Bannon, another top Trump ally, told The Atlantic that the deranged persona Miller adopts in front of the cameras is just an act. “He plays the character well, knowing he always wants to have the libs’—the progressives’—heads blow up,” Bannon said.
Several colleagues said Miller is just as confrontational and firebrand behind closed doors, however.
Other allies acknowledged to the magazine that Miller’s personality is something of an “acquired taste.” One offered harsher words, comparing his bedside manner to that of Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler, the second most powerful figure in the Third Reich, who helped carry out the Holocaust.
Others within Trump’s inner circle had kinder words for Miller, who is among the most influential people in the president’s orbit.
Bannon described Miller to The Atlantic as Trump’s “prime minister,” with the president himself suggesting Miller was “at the top of the totem pole” inside the White House.
“He oversees every policy the administration touches,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the magazine. “I can’t tell you the number of times a policy matter is discussed in the Oval and Trump will say, ‘Where’s Stephen? Tell him to get that done.’”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
