White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller speaks to the media, at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 19, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
President Donald Trump's deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, reportedly disrupted a lunch gathering Thursday for GOP Senate chiefs of staff to defend Trump's controversial tariff policy with a confusing and "arrogant" presentation.
Politico reported that the arguments made by Miller, who is also Trump's homeland security adviser, alluded to the British Empire and left the aides asking one another, “What on Earth was that?".
However, members of the GOP have warned that the decision to impose tariffs would be bad not just for the economy but for their chances in future elections.
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Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who benefited from the backlash against former President Barack Obama during the 2010 and 2014 midterms, cautioned that Republicans could face a similar outcome in 2026, the year he is due for re-election.
In an interview with Politico published Thursday, Tillis said the GOP may be up against a "storm" next year due to President Donald Trump's decision to impose sweeping tariffs on United States imports.
“What we don’t want to do is overreach,” he said.
“We’ve got to be careful not to do the same thing. And I think that these elections are going to be proxies, or almost like weather devices for figuring out what kind of storm we’re going to be up against next year," Tillis added.
Some of Tillis' fellow Republicans are drawing comparisons to even earlier historical events, expressing concern that voters, who are already unsettled by Trump's reductions in essential government services, may hold the GOP accountable for the consequences of the tariffs.
Miller was sent to encourage Republican aides to have faith in the president and maintain their position, per Axios.
He recognized that their superiors were facing criticism over tariffs but claimed that these taxes would generate $6 trillion in revenue over the next decade.
Trump has strongly reacted to this criticism from Tillis and three other Republican senators, saying that they are suffering from "Trump Derangement Syndrome."
Still, the four senators held firm in their resistance to the tariffs, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) aligned with the Democrats to support a bill aimed at overturning Trump's emergency declaration that authorized the imposition of tariffs on Canada.