First there was Steve Bannon. Then came Sebastian Gorka. Now, a new white nationalist has President Trump’s ear and may very well hold the fate of over three and a half million DREAMers in his hands.
Meet Stephen Miller: the thirty-two year old far-right activist who has thrust himself into the national spotlight. As another possible government shutdown looms, many see Miller as being the ultimate decider as to what President Trump will agree to. Lindsey Graham has even gone as far as saying, “as long as Stephen Miller is in charge of negotiating immigration, we’re going nowhere,” leaving many Americans to wonder who this mysterious adviser is and how he managed to climb up the ranks so fast to become one of the most influential men in the country.
It all started in high school and college, when Miller would pen controversial op-eds discussing the positives of the gender pay gap and claiming that Muslims rejoice the killing of non-Muslims. This is where Miller met and allegedly befriended alt-right icon and proud white nationalist Richard Spencer, who has gone on the record to voice his support for Miller. After college, Miller worked for a couple of Republican members of Congress, including the highly controversial Michele Bachmann, before ultimately helping then-senator Jeff Sessions defeat the bipartisan Gang of Eight bill. Alongside Sessions, Miller crafted “nation-state populism,” which served as a rebuke to both globalization and immigration and ultimately served as the basis for Trump’s campaign ideologies.
Miller was hired by Trump’s campaign in January of 2016 as senior policy adviser and instantly made his mark by serving as the candidate’s warm-up act during rallies. He helped craft many of Trump’s key speeches, including his speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention and his inaugural address. The president liked Miller so much that he decided to bring him into the administration as senior adviser and surrounded him with other equally controversial yet like-minded individuals such as Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka.
Miller worked closely with Bannon to create Trump’s travel ban, which they hoped would see their alt-right visions for the country finally put into action. After Bannon and Gorka were eventually ousted, Miller continued to win over the president’s favor with highly contentious TV interviews. Now the youngest adviser in the White House has his own office and many people blaming him for the weekend shutdown, despite the White House’s vehement denials of these claims.
As rumors swirl regarding Chief of Staff John Kelly’s job status, Miller’s job still appears to be safe. While the list of White House departures grows, the alt-right adviser continues to garner controversy while somehow evading termination. However, it’s important to remember that employees who are praised by Trump one minute can easily be fired the next, as Anthony Scaramucci can reluctantly attest to.
With only a few weeks to come up with a bipartisan compromise on immigration, Stephen Miller appears to be one of the few roadblocks preventing any productive dialogue in our nation’s capital. President Trump, who literally authored a book on the art of dealmaking, cannot risk a second government shutdown barely a month into the new year. Miller has put himself at the forefront of the immigration debate and seems unwilling to back down on his radical stances, no matter the cost. Unfortunately for him, the cost might just be his job. Unless he decides to play ball with senators, the federal government is at risk for yet another shutdown with only the president and his cronies to blame.
As of today, Democrats have withdrawn their offer to fund Trump’s border wall. This will make negotiations harder for the White House. Both Trump and certainly Miller are aware that they will ultimately be blamed for another shutdown, yet also know that any deal without wall funding will be considered a betrayal of the president’s famous campaign catchphrase: “build the wall”. If a deal isn’t reached soon, Stephen Miller might end up finding himself on the sorry end of another one of Donald Trump’s famous catchphrases: “you’re fired.”
Photo: Joshua Roberts / REUTERS
