Stephen Miller

About

Stephen Miller is an American political adviser, far-right activist and senior adviser to United States President Donald Trump. Miller rose to prominence in support of a number of controversial, hardline positions on immigration.

Online History

Duke Lacrosse Rape Case

Miller first rose to national attention during the Duke Lacrosse rape case, in which three members of the Duke University lacrosse team were falsely accused of rape. Writing for the Duke Chronicle university newspaper, Miller published one of the few condemnations of the accuser, "Duke lacrosse: A call to action,"^[1] on November 6th, 2016.

During this time, Miller began making appearances on Fox News. On January 22nd, 2007, a video of one of his earliest appearances on _ The O'Reilly Factor_ news commentary series aired.

Political Career

After college, Miller went to work for prominent republican politicians, such as Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Congressman John Shadegg and finally then-Alabama Senator "Jeff Sessions":memes/people/jeff-sessions, who would go on to become Attorney General of the Trump administration.

In January 2016, Miller joined the Trump presidential campaign as a senior policy adviser. Later that year, after Trump's victory in the election, Miller was named Senior Adviser to the President.^[7]

Jake Tapper Interview

On January 7th, 2018, White House adviser Stephen Miller appeared on CNN's State of the Union with Jake Tapper. Miller, who was asked to defend the president's tweets and his mental state, discussed the policies and accomplishments of the president. However, after being pushed by Tapper to answer questions regarding the tweets, the exchange turned hostile. Tapper ended the interview, and according to reports, Miller had to be escorted off the set by security.^[2]

Family Separation at the U.S.-Mexico Border

Beginning in May 2018, the Trump administration enacted a zero tolerance policy on immigration, requiring the separation of children from parents upon entering the United States illegally.

During an interview with the New York Times,^[6] Miller, said the practice was a "simple decision" and was being used as a deterrent. He said, "No nation can have the policy that whole classes of people are immune from immigration law or enforcement. It was a simple decision by the administration to have a zero tolerance policy for illegal entry, period. The message is that no one is exempt from immigration law.”

Stephen Miller Doxxing

On June 20th, 2018, Splinter News^[3] published White House adviser Stephen Miller's phone number on their website. The cellphone number has since been deactivated.

Following the release of the phone number, the Twitter account for the controversial social media website Gab, which has been called "a social media app dubbed 'a haven for white nationalists'" by Media Matters, tweeted,^[4] "So 'journalists' want to continue playing the 'let’s dox people' game. I have a feeling they will be regretting this move." The post (shown below, left) received more than 20 retweets and 70 likes in 24 hours.

Following the reporting, Splinter and various members of the Splinter News staff were temporarily banned from Twitter (examples below).^[5]

Criticism

Stephen Miller has been criticized for his hardline rightwing politics, which have seemingly targeted immigrants and other marginalized people, particularly following such controversial pieces of policy as Trump's Travel Ban and Family Separation. During the controversy of the latter, an outside White House adviser called Miller a Nazi. He said, "Stephen actually enjoys seeing those pictures at the border. "He's a twisted guy, the way he was raised and picked on. There's always been a way he's gone about this. He's Waffen-SS."^[8]

In an October 2017 profile of Miller, The New York Times spoke to several of Miller's former high school classmates, who had a negative opinion of Miller. They shared stories in which MIller acted in sexist, racist and classist ways. They said, "He railed against bilingual announcements, asking in a local editorial why there were ‘usually very few, if any, Hispanic students in my honors classes, despite the large number of Hispanic students that attend our school.’"

One incident that became a popular viral video (shown below) featured Miller giving a high school campaign speech in which spoke about high school janitors. He said, "Am I the only one who is sick and tired of being told to pick up my trash when we have plenty of janitors who are paid to do it for us?"

Search Interest

External References