Stephen Miller is the Poster Boy for the Rabid MAGA Movement

The more voters see of him, the more repulsed they’ll be.

Jennifer Rubin - Oct 8

If Donald Trump is concerned about inciting violence he should muzzle his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller. Miller has regularly exploded when the courts rule against Trump. He bizarrely threatened to suspend habeas corpus. Miller also let on that federal forces would, apparently in violation of posse comitatus, go out on arrests. He recently screeched at Memphis police officers that they were “unleashed.” John Oliver wise-cracked after Miller’s rant, “I’ve got to say, at this point, white supremacists just have to be embarrassed, right? This is your champion, right here? A man who looks like he still has a soft spot on his skull?!?”

No other president would permit an underling to flaunt his racist rhetoric, display blatant animus toward a cross-section of Americans, and peddle his xenophobic, violent schemes. But Trump—until now—has gobbled up all the hate and lies Miller has dished out. (Whether intended or not, his violent-infused demagoguery at Charlie Kirk’s memorial, according to some observers, bore a frightful similarity to Joseph Goebbels’s “The Storm Is Coming” speech.)

This week, condemnation of Miller finally seemed to break through. As more attention focuses on his unhinged rants, he risks making himself—like Elon Musk—a toxic figure without the loyal fan base his boss enjoys. While Trump is desperately trying to make the case that the left is to blame for violence (statistically false), one wonders how long he will let Miller stomp all over his messaging.

Events in South Carolina over the weekend set off another round of anti-Miller criticism. South Carolina Judge Diane Goodstei recently ruled against the Trump regime in a voting rights case, triggering vile condemnation.

The Daily Beast reported:

On Sept. 5, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, a Trump appointee, posted on X that the DOJ “would not stand” for Goodstein’s ruling.

“This [DOJ’s] Civil Rights will not stand for a state court judge’s hasty nullification of our federal voting laws,” Dhillon wrote. “I will allow nothing to stand in the way of our mandate to maintain clean voter rolls.”

What followed was a barrage of threatening replies, some calling for Goodstein’s disbarment, others suggesting imprisonment—or worse.

As we have seen, after adverse rulings Trump routinely explodes with vile insults and threats, triggering death threats and abuse. (Even the all-too-accommodating Chief Justice John Roberts publicly scolded Trump for threatening to impeach judges who ruled against him.)

On Saturday, Goodstein’s home went up in flames. On the same day as the blaze, Miller “posted on X that ‘left-wing terrorism’ is being ‘shielded by far-left Democrat judges,’” in a message viewed more than 6.8 million times.

Goodstein was not home when the blaze broke out, but family members were. Her husband had to be hospitalized for “sustained serious injuries when he leapt from the burning structure after assisting family members in their evacuation.” Her son was also hospitalized with serious injuries. No motive has been determined, and as of this writing it is not clear if the fire was intentionally set.

Trump has said nothing about the incident. Miller, when challenged by Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) for his vituperative language against judges, refused to condemn the attack and predictably insulted Goldman instead.

His lack of respect for the rule of law was illustrated on Monday, when Miller went ballistic after two adverse rulings against Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional attempt to deploy national guard to Portland. “A district court judge has no conceivable authority, whatsoever, to restrict the President and Commander-in-Chief from dispatching members of the US military to defend federal lives and property,” he whined on X. “[The] judicial ruling is one of the most egregious and thunderous violations of constitutional order we have ever seen — and is yet the latest example of unceasing efforts to nullify the 2024 election by fiat.” Later, Miller seemed to hint that the regime would not follow the ruling in other jurisdictions.

When confronted with issues for which he has no rational answer that will fly outside MAGA circles, Miller goes berserk. Asked on CNN on Monday if ICE is racially profiling, he blew up, unleashed a stream of venom against immigrants rather than answer the question:

That is the, it’s such a — oh, what a dumb question. The illegal aliens who are here are taking jobs away from Blacks. They’re taking jobs away from whites. They’re taking jobs away from Latinos. They’re taking their health benefits away. They’re taking their school slots away. And of course, in many cases, they’re committing heinous crimes. We cannot have a system of law in this country that privileges illegal aliens over American citizens. And that’s what they’re doing. You know it. And I know it.

If that is indicative of the dearth of intellect and maturity in this administration, it is little wonder it loses so frequently in court.

Miller’s knee-jerk, irrational response to ordinary, obvious questions is especially problematic given the power he holds. “[A]all of the immigration policy, all of the militarization, not only of ICE, but of our National Guard and our cities is being driven by Stephen Miller, who is out of control. I don’t know where all of his anger and vitriol and hatred comes from, but it’s really deep-seated,” Rep. Goldman observed in our interview yesterday. “And if he has a deep-seated hatred for immigrants, which he has demonstrated over the years, then he’s not interested in operating under the rule of law, following due process.”

Unlike any other White House deputy chief of staff in memory, Miller seems to be the chief policy maker in the White House. Trump often seems to be following Miller’s lead (as he did when falsely maintaining that he had won 9-0 at the Supreme Court on an Alien Enemies Act case). Put differently, whatever Miller barks usually becomes what passes for “policy.”

It remains to be seen whether Trump or other MAGA Republicans will sour on Miller, or the extent he makes it more difficult to vilify Democrats. (The public may notice Miller seems to be the one determined to incite violence in cities and gin up the mob anger against judges.) Given that his statements prove so damaging that it hampers the government in court, he risks (as Musk did) falling out of favor.

In any event, Democrats would be wise to make this snarling, racist, and unhinged character the face of the MAGA party. (Which shouldn’t be too challenging, given the advantage of being true.) California Gov. Gavin Newson, who won in the legal faceoff that blocked California’s guard deployment in Oregon, has started trolling Miller, cracking that he is acting as an “armchair warrior.” Whether mocking his hysterical ranks or dissecting his racial rants, Democrats are wise to keep the focus on the most rabid person in the administration (where the competition is stiff).

Even Trump voters who are reluctant to admit they were snookered in 2024 may be persuaded that Miller, and hence this White House, is out of control. Since MAGA Republicans aren’t about to restore sanity, calm, and competence, voters may well decide to hand the reins in the House and the Senate to the only sober adults around: the Democrats