White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller speaks while U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick listen during an event to sign executive orders related to birthright citizenship and the polysilicon industry, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 6, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
A former Republican operative on Thursday disclosed how the growing scandal around Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) and the abuse allegations has revealed a harsh reality MAGA has tried to conceal.
Steve Schmidt, co-founder of the anti-Trump organization The Lincoln Project, explained that inside MAGA, Trump allies have pledged their loyalty to the president — no matter what.
Schmidt referred to Miller as a growing problem for the GOP with "a nuclear distemper problem," referring to the accusations that Miller poured boiling hot water on his ex-wife, Emily Moreno — the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) — and allegedly broke his 2-year-old daughter's collarbone.
"Now the senator has tolerated this, the abuse of his grandchild, the abuse of his daughter, because it was expedient for MAGA," Schmidt said.
"And in MAGA, family comes second to loyalty when it comes to Donald Trump," Schmidt argued. "Trump over family. And that's the sickness at the heart of MAGA."
Schmidt called out Moreno.
"The putrid senator who has been silent in his daughter's defense has now spoken out about the sick son-in-law, a member of Congress fully supported by Trump, because of course, he is as devoted to Trump as is his father-in-law," Schmidt said. "And so everybody looks away and it's uncomfortable to cover the alleged wife-beating, baby-abusing congressman, certainly on the broadcast news and legacy cable news stations."
Upsetting Trump, or disrupting the MAGA base, has kept Republicans from trying to keep this story under wraps, Schmidt added.
"The story, the stench of it, the amorality of it, keeps coming up to the surface and there it sits," Schmidt said.