A couple of profiles have appeared in recent days looking at neo-fascist demagogue Donald "Send Her Back" Trump's bizarre and bigoted advisor, Stephen Miller, he of the glassy, vacant eyes and robotic delivery. Miller is the despicable author of Trump's cruel immigration policies, the most infamous of which is family separation and the caging of young children. The New York Times' Jason DeParle writes of Miller's background in Rethuglican right-wing politics:
"Stephen Miller was 22 and looking for work in Washington. He lacked government experience but had media appearances on talk radio and Fox News and a history of pushing causes like 'Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week.' A first-term congresswoman from Minnesota offered him a job interview and discovered they were reading the same book: a polemic warning that Muslim immigration could mean 'the end of the world as we know it.' By the end of the interview, Representative Michele Bachmann had a new press secretary. And a dozen years later, Mr. Miller, now a senior adviser to President Trump, is presiding over one of the most fervent attacks on immigration in American history.That loony Michele Bachmann was his first political mentor isn't surprising. He went on to work for neo-Confederate Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, where he refined his anti-immigrant positions. His background is rife with hypocrisy and prejudice, as the article notes. In their Washington Post article, Josh Dawsey and Nick Miroff describe Miller's weird and worshipful view of Trump:
The story of Mr. Miller’s rise has been told with a focus on his pugnacity and paradoxes. Known more for his enemies than his friends, he is a conservative firebrand from liberal Santa Monica, Calif., and a descendant of refugees who is seeking to eliminate refugee programs. He is a Duke graduate in bespoke suits who rails against the perfidy of so-called elites. Among those who have questioned his moral fitness are his uncle, his childhood rabbi and 3,400 fellow Duke alumni." (our emphasis)
"Effusive in praising his boss, Miller said he experienced a 'jolt of electricity to my soul' when he saw Trump announce his presidential run, 'as though everything that I felt at the deepest levels of my heart were for now being expressed by a candidate for our nation’s highest office before a watching world. '[snip] His colleagues speak of him with a mix of admiration, fear and derision, impressed by his single-minded determination and loyalty to the president, despite an awkward and sometimes off-putting style." (our emphasis)One can imagine Miller having a shrine to Trump in his office, to which he pays tribute regularly. He's the poster boy for fanaticism in the service of white supremacy.
