Stephen Miller, who now carries the title of Trump’s “Senior Advisor,” wrote most of Trump’s speeches during the campaign, including his infamous nomination acceptance speech, the one in which Trump channeled some of his most his most authoritarian, apocalyptic rhetoric, such as this somber warning:
I have a message for all of you: the crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon come to an end. Beginning on January 20th 2017, safety will be restored.
The consistent feature of the speech was its effort to divide Americans and place blame for economic and social problems on ever-conspiring “enemies,” both internal and external —it was loaded with the same unsubtle dog whistles and undertones of the racism and bigotry his supporters so fervently responded to on the campaign trail. Many compared the speech to those of Nixon, others compared it to Hitler.
Today it was announced that Miller will be authoring Trump’s inauguration speech:
The choice of Miller, the 31-year-old who wrote most of Trump’s major prepared speeches in 2016, including his Republican national convention address that was criticized as overly dark, is of no surprise to Trump insiders. Miller played an unusually multi-faceted role on the campaign: a behind-the-scenes policy adviser, Trump’s chief speechwriter and a speech-giver himself, becoming a skinny-tie-wearing fixture over the summer at Trump rallies as a warm-up act.
Race-baiting is familiar territory to the 31-year old Miller, a Duke University graduate and former member of something called the “Duke Conservative Union.” In 2007 Miller partnered with white supremacist and spokesman of the so-called, “alt-right” Richard Spencer, to sponsor an on-campus “debate” about immigration. Spencer, an avowed racist who recently drew eyeballs and news coverage for fomenting Nazi-like demonstrations of fealty to Trump, remembers Miller fondly:
Spencer says Miller helped him with fundraising and promotion for an on-campus debate on immigration policy that Spencer organized in 2007 featuring influential white nationalist Peter Brimelow. Another former member of the DCU confirmed that Miller and Spencer worked together on the event. At DCU meetings, according to a past president for the group, Miller denounced multiculturalism and expressed concerns that immigrants from non-European countries were not assimilating.
"It's funny no one's picked up on the Stephen Miller connection," Spencer says. "I knew him very well when I was at Duke. But I am kind of glad no one's talked about this because I don't want to harm Trump."
Miller’s racist nationalist sympathies were apparent early on, even according to co-working members of Senator (now Attorney- General designate) Jeff Sessions’ staff, who were familiar with Miller’s college writings, largely trite screeds against “political correctness” and “multiculturalism”:
These columns were evidently a source of concern for his co-workers while he was serving as a staffer to Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump's pick for attorney general. “There were rumors that spread around that he wrote these columns at Duke that really walked a fine line on racial issues, to put it mildly,”
According to Julia Ioffe, writing for Politico, Miller as a staffer for Sessions played an instrumental role in killing the 2014 immigration reform legislation. His brand of Ann Coulterish conservatism is not, however, limited to race issues. Some of Miller’s “college quotes” are included in the Slate article, demonstrating a wide range of opinions that include, for example, his views on equal pay for women:
“It's vital to keep in mind what it would actually mean for women if we were to close the pay gap. For many, it would mean giving up a noble career in social working or putting in 50- and 60-hour work weeks and not being able to spend time with the family. It would mean trading in jobs like housekeeping for night shifts doing road repairs; it would mean giving up the joy of being home during your child's first years of life
Miller’s overall views demonstrate a combination of neo-conservative sensibilities, a McCarthy-like penchant for attacking liberals, and the type of white-nationalist inspired xenophobia that Trump embraced during he campaign:
He was a strong supporter of the war in Iraq and called Ted Kennedy a “traitor” for criticizing American use of torture. He went after professors for being registered Democrats. He blamed 9/11 on “politically correct domestic security” and unenforced immigration laws. He wrote about black students’ racial “paranoia” and their mistaken understanding of where true racism resides.
As the Politico piece notes, on the campaign trail, Miller often served as the “warm-up” act for Trump, egging on his supporters to a feverish intensity.
Journalist Julia Ioffe ‘s description of him in her thorough Politico profile is telling:
There is something eerily vintage about Miller’s stump speeches. The combination of their substance—vilifying immigrants as killers, the promise of nativist glory days ahead—and their delivery with a calm face around a loud, droning mouth, slicked-back hair and sharp suit, floridly invoking powerful cabals against the people: All of it harks back to an earlier time. It’s as if the video should be in black and white, and the microphone in front of Miller an antique, metallic affair.
A propagandist with slicked backed hair, a fine suit, delivering his oratory into an old metallic microphone to gin up support on behalf of a demagogue, all in grainy black and white.
Ms Ioffe, what could you possibly have been thinking?