President Donald Trump's deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, went off on a fascist rant during an event that was supposed to be about thanking the National Guard. And two analysts say he just exposed a "big weakness."
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth visited Washington, D.C.'s Union Station on Wednesday to show off how much "safer" the area is and to thank National Guard soldiers for their participation. Once it became clear the group was at Union Station, protesters showed up, and travelers going to and from the Amtrak trains joined in while rolling suitcases nearby.
That's when Miller took the metaphorical microphone.
“We are not going to let the communists destroy a great American city, let alone the nation’s capital,” Miller ranted to those at a Shake Shack. “And let’s just also address another thing. All these demonstrators you’ve seen out here in recent days, all these elderly white hippies, they’re not part of the city and never have been. And by the way, most of the citizens who live in Washington, D.C., are Black."
Miller was attacked for the comment, noting that not all urban areas are majority Black.
"The number of adults living in Washington, DC who are Black or African American (approximately 225,400) is now estimated to be roughly the same number of white adults (approximately 225,700)," the city government site said.
The New Republic's Greg Sargent spoke with fellow staff writer Monica Potts on his Thursday morning "The Daily Blast" podcast about the Miller speech, particularly when it came to Miller's threats.
"They’re the ones who have been advocating for the one percent," Miller claimed. "They’re criminals, they’re killers, they’re rapists, and they’re drug dealers. And I’m glad they’re here today because me, Pete, and the vice president [are] going to leave here and, inspired by them, we’re going to add thousands more resources to this city to get the criminals and the gang members out of here."
He described Miller as "ominously flanked by the defense secretary and members of the military," while "he threatened to respond with more troops."
But Sargent and Potts "think this is really an expression of weakness."
"Trump and Miller were certain that a latent majority is prepared to rally to authoritarian rule. But poll after poll shows voters rebelling," the two wrote in the lead-up to the podcast. "Miller’s hubris has become a major vulnerability."
Sargent called the threat "overt." Miller makes it clear, "They’re good to respond to demonstrators with more law enforcement resources pouring into the city. And also note the absurd claim that only white hippies are upset about what’s going on. What are you seeing out there?"
Potts made the point that the people trying to chase away ICE agents are people who actually live there. They're scared and they're angry.
"They are people who love these cities, who care about these cities, who don’t want to see their cities militarized or become a backdrop for his propaganda, which is what’s happening. And I think it’s really upsetting to a lot of people, even people who—I don’t live in cities. I live in a very small town in upstate New York, and I’m upset. I used to live in D.C. for a very long time, and I love that city. It’s a beautiful, wonderful, diverse, electric city, and it shouldn’t be treated this way."
Sargent noted that it's clear that Trump and Miller view cities as something "very different than residents themselves understand it as."
Potts explained that this kind of thinking is an outdated rant from the 1980s and '90s.
"They were underresourced and they were underappreciated," she said. "And it was after white flight, and many of them were devastated by the loss of the tax base there. So cities were different then. But in the past 20 years, even a little bit longer, we’ve seen increased urbanization in this country. There are people who are reinvesting in cities, who are thinking about what it means to be an urban citizen and trying to be good neighbors to the people who live there. I love cities. You’ll find some of the kindest neighbors and the most helpful communities in cities. A lot of the stereotypes that we have about small towns are true of cities."