Nothing reflects President Donald Trump’s determination to ignore the results of the midterm elections more than his appointment of Stephen Miller as the new White House chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles.
Many lawmakers, labor activists, and civil rights leaders go further than calling him just a dangerous white nationalist. They declare that Miller is, in fact, a neo-Nazi, if not a full-fledged Nazi like Hitler and his followers in 20th-century Germany.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York Democrat whose district covers parts of the Bronx and Queens, told CBS News that Trump is “going on television saying that immigration went too far, while also in the same week appointing Stephen Miller, a neo-Nazi and the architect of…the absolute most brutal immigration policies that are dragging people out by their ankles and mothers in the streets,” as his chief of staff.
AOC’s campaign against Miller was launched in 2019, during Trump’s first term, when she started a petition calling for his ouster from the government. Her move was a reaction to leaked emails published by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which declared that Miller was a white nationalist who had been put in charge of the nation’s official immigration policies. Miller was, in fact, advising Trump on what to do about a wide range of issues the country needed to confront, including everything from aid to education to policies regarding voting.
Miller has been telling anyone who would listen that Republicans should concentrate on manipulating voter rolls in order to hold onto power. “Change the voters, change the country,” he posted on X in June. No one fails to understand that what he advocates is the elimination of Black people, Latinos, Asians, and many others from the voting rolls.
Ocasio-Cortez has also warned of the danger Miller poses in his new post. “I think it’s actually a very dangerous point that we’re at in our country because he is so unstable,” she told reporters, “and for him to be the primary adviser to the president, I think actually puts our entire nation in a very risky and volatile place.”
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader who is expected to become speaker when Democrats take control in January, was asked by reporters whether Miller could be a viable partner for Democrats. “Stephen Miller is a stone-cold racist,” Jeffries said. “His track record speaks for itself, and I’ve got zero interest in working with that kind of individual.” He has also demanded that Trump “fire him today.”
Former Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones of New York pointed to Miller’s “change the voters” post, calling it part of a “fascist movement in American politics.” The Republican Party, with its gerrymandering, has taken Miller to heart on that issue, although, in the midterms, that gerrymandering backfired, with Democrats winning many of the redrawn districts.
At a Nazi-like MAGA rally in Madison Square Garden in October 2024, Miller declared, “America is for Americans and Americans only.” Substitute “Germans” for “Americans” and you have the words of Hitler at one of his mass rallies in Germany, observers of history noted.
Many fear the appointment of Miller underlines the intention of the Trump administration, despite its losses in the election, to continue its harmful policies, policies that will hurt many Americans.
“Having a white nationalist running the White House is not a good sign. Stephen Miller’s elevation to a more consequential position of power is a bad signal for what Trump’s endgame will be as a lame-duck president,” says Markus Batchelor, political director at People For the American Way.
Backing up warnings about that danger, the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2019 published its analysis of more than 900 leaked emails Miller sent to editors at the right-wing Breitbart News in 2015 and 2016. In those emails, Miller promoted white nationalist websites that push the “white genocide” myth—the claim that there is a secret plan to replace white people, and white voters in particular, with people of color and immigrants. It is a variation of the white supremacist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory.
Rep.-elect Chris Rabb, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, is also on the list of lawmakers warning about the Miller promotion and what it means about Trump’s intentions. Rabb called Miller a “white supremacist” and told CNN that Trump has “not learned” from his party’s historic defeat in the midterm elections.
Many lawmakers supporting a fair and humane immigration policy have noted that Miller is the person who helped convince Trump to admit white so-called “refugees” from South Africa while blocking immigrants from other countries. Many of the South Africans brought in are bitter about the ending of apartheid in their home country and claim that Black majority rule oppresses them.
Nadine Smith, president and CEO of Color of Change, said of Miller’s promotion at the White House: “Losing public support does not strip this administration of its power to destroy lives. Giving Miller more authority puts Black communities, immigrants and everyone this administration has targeted in greater danger.”
She said that the pressure must be put on Congress to investigate abuses of the Trump administration by people like Miller, to find out who ordered them, and then use the power of Congress, particularly the power of the purse, to stop them.
A look at Miller’s background yields results one would not expect when looking into the history of a white nationalist and fascist. He comes from a wealthy Jewish family descended from immigrants.
He grew up in Santa Monica, Calif., where he attended high school. As a teenager, he reportedly had friends who came from the Latino community, but he soon was attracted to extreme right-wing political ideas online, on television, and in books.
Miller reportedly cut off a close Latino friend, Jason Islas, as he embraced racist and xenophobic ideas.
As so many of the lawmakers and community leaders quoted above have noted, having a fascist in such a high position in the White House worsens the danger the country continues to face with Trump. History shows fascists don’t give up easily, even after an entire country delivers an electoral rebuke to their policies.
History also shows, however, that fascists can be defeated. That is the goal of the growing movement to oust Stephen Miller from the White House.
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