NAZI FEELING

Why It’s Impossible to Overstate How Dangerous Stephen Miller Is

Miller is now shadow president to an ailing 80-year-old. It couldn’t be any worse.

opinion

That’s Deputy President Joseph Goebbels, to you, America.

In a move that was stupefyingly deaf to the message America sent at the polls on Tuesday, Donald Trump has elevated Stephen Miller to the position often described as the second most powerful in the world. Miller was responsible for many of Trump’s most extreme policies, such as those on immigration, that were resoundingly rejected by voters earlier this week.

Miller replaces Susie Wiles, long rumored to be leaving the White House, despite the fact that he is widely reviled not just by Trump opponents—or fans of human decency—but also throughout the administration. His heavy-handed “management style” combined with his general odiousness and a personality that suggests his childhood was filled with endless hours pulling the legs off of small insects have led those with direct contact with him to call him “impossible.” One senior official from the first Trump administration described him to me as “the biggest asshole I have ever met.”

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It’s not just his half Incel-half rabid vampire bat personality that has generated critiques of Miller. His use of Nazi language has, despite his Jewish immigrant heritage, led him to often be compared to Hitler’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and other high Nazi officials. In one instance, Miller was condemned for ominously asserting that “we are the storm” at the memorial service for slain right wing activist Charlie Kirk with critics noting the similarities of the statement with Goebbels, “Volk, steh auf, und Sturm, brich los!” which roughly translates as a dark promise that “the storm is coming.”

The White House chief of staff job is profoundly important. Dwight Eisenhower’s chief of staff, Sherman Adams, was often characterized as “the Deputy President” because of his influence, particularly at moments when Eisenhower was sidelined, as he often was, by illness. The White House chief of staff not only runs the White House but personally oversees the president’s schedule, what people he meets with, what papers he sees and how White House operations, like the press office and policy apparatus, work.

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In a normal presidency that is a heavy lift. It is made even more demanding because of the fact that Trump is an indifferent manager, often focused on the minutiae of momentary passion projects (redecorating the White House, for example) and not interested in the work making informed executive decisions generally requires. In such cases, the White House chief of staff can step in and fill the void, making decisions in the name of the president, including many with profound consequences.

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Miller will also oversee relations with the Congress, likely to be very tricky given the Democrats massive victory on Tuesday. Indeed, choosing him for the job at this moment is not just a big f—k you to voters who despised Miller’s brutal anti-immigrant tactics and contempt for due process and the rule of law, it also sends a clear message to Democratic leaders. They may be talking about finding ways to work with Trump and publicly eschewing retribution. With the Miller choice, Trump is saying screw your soft b.s., my gloves are off and I am going to make your lives miserable at every turn.

The fact that such an approach will make millions of Americans’ lives miserable too may not be just collateral damage from Trump’s perspective. Indeed, it may be a goal as an emotionally-wounded Trump recoils from being crushed at the ballot box and now wants to signal that he will punish the entire country for its disloyalty and lack of appreciation for his colossal wonderfulness.

That said, like many of Trump’s personnel decisions, this one may not just put the worst possible person in the job in which they can do the most damage (see Hegseth, Pete or Kennedy, Robert F. or Mullin, Markwayne) it may also be blind to shortcomings of the appointee in question that may backfire on Trump. (See Zacharia, Katie or Noem, Kristie, etc.)

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Because Miller is deeply despised even by those who work within a few feet of him in the executive mansion and is disliked by many across cabinet departments who he has bullied or ignored, he is likely to become very quickly the subject of unflattering leaks and stories. That’s just how Washington works, especially in the waning days of a lame duck administration that has lost all of its political mojo.

Expect the same from Republicans on the Hill and across the country who are looking for ways to distance themselves from Trump and who feel more free to do so…indeed, incented to do so by the realities of the political calendar. When White House plans go awry, Miller will be the one getting the blame.

Conflicts with Democrats on the Hill will also very likely lead to gridlock and government shutdowns and loss of essential services and that too will not work out well for Miller. He will try tough talk and tactics. But he comes across in the media like a festering wound. He will be a lousy spokesperson for Trump and will almost certainly accelerate the president’s declining influence. Democrats will happily target him because he is already profoundly unpopular. Trump won’t like the consequences.

For these reasons, I would not be surprised if Miller does not make it to the end of Trump’s presidency in this office. Indeed, I’d be surprised if he makes it to the end of 2027 in the job. He may be a long-serving Trump aide and willing to be both obsequious and a doer of dirty work in just the way the president likes it, but such things matter less to Trump when his image is suffering and Miller will be a constant problem for the president in that regard.

Nonetheless, in his new role, it is hard to overstate the damage Miller can do. One of the worst Americans we have ever seen in public life has been given one of the two most powerful jobs in Washington. The guy in the other job is not only another of our worst and thus collaborations between the two might be especially awful (as they have been in the past), but he is also 80 and fading fast. It is easy to imagine Miller playing the same kind of role Sherman Adams did in the wake of Eisenhower’s heart attacks (or that Edith Wilson played after her husband’s stroke), that of deputy or even shadow president.

Given Miller’s proven contempt for the Constitution, human decency, historic norms and the American people, it is almost impossible to imagine a more dangerous choice for a more important job.

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David RothkopfChief Global Affairs Columnist

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