A former Republican strategist said Monday that Stephen Miller, one of President Donald Trump's top aides, has gambled on stifling free speech and using fear to maintain power — but there's a chance it won't work.
In a Substack video, Steve Schmidt called out the White House deputy chief of staff, whom he referred to as "the architect of fear." Schmidt referred to Miller as the "most psychotic and unhinged advisor, a man with the blood of many on his hands, including Alex Pretti and Renee Good, including all of these people who lost their lives under the weight of his viciousness and his insanity."
The co-founder of the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project made it clear that he views Miller as "an empty little Nazi" and "Little Goebbels of Santa Monica." He also identified how Miller doesn't have unchecked political power.
"We have the right to speech, and we have the right to faith, and we have the right to dissent, and we have the right to oppose this whack job with the full weight of our convictions," Schmidt argued.
Schmidt pointed to Trump's confusion on stage after Spain's FIFA World Cup win as an example of how "he's not capable psychologically of stepping away from power" — and that Miller is part of the problem.
"There are people around Donald Trump who encourage this, who stoke it, who provoke it," Schmidt added. "They believe that they're going to benefit from it. I think it's the worst bet ever made because for those who have placed it, my opposite wager is on their ruination because the survival of the American Republic depends on it. What these people have done and threatened, the thousands they have abused, the money they have stolen, the crimes they have committed cannot be gotten away with."
"If they are gotten away with, then that will mean Trump has won. If Trump wins, then the Republic dies. It's as simple as that. And the choice has always been as simple as that: America or Trump," he added.