President Donald Trump's longtime lieutenant Stephen Miller has emerged as his most powerful and empowered adviser in his second term — but it's not clear how long he can maintain his lofty position, according to a New York Times writer.
Miller, now White House deputy chief of staff with apparent ambitions to become national security adviser, has remained in Trump's inner circle by casting aside allies like Steve Bannon and Jeff Sessions once they fall from favor and striking up new alliances, all while seeking to turn the president against others in his orbit, reported the New York Times.
"He’s notorious for bad-mouthing colleagues to the president," wrote Jason Zengerle for the Times.
Zengerle cited the infamous Signal group chat involving defense secrets that included Miller, and he reported that sources told him that only vice president JD Vance was willing to question Trump's decision to strike Houthi rebels in Yemen because he was elected to his position and did not serve at the pleasure of the president. Others risked their jobs by contradicting Trump in Miller's presence.
"At the same time, Mr. Miller is a world-class brown noser," Zengerle reported. "In an administration that puts a premium on sycophancy, he stands out for just how much he sucks up to his boss."
A transition official told Zengerle that the president doesn't view Miller as indispensable because no one in his circle ever was, but he said he was so crucial to his political operation that the president can't really imagine him not working for him.
"And yet, Mr. Miller’s power could ultimately unravel because of something far more profound than office politics," Zengerle reported. "Translating Trumpism into a coherent ideological doctrine can be a vexing proposition, as MAGA’s isolationist wing recently experienced with the U.S. airstrikes on Iran."
Miller has translated Trumpism into public policy as well as anyone by showing a willingness to embrace the president's contradictions and reversals.
"When I asked the third Trump adviser about the foreign policy views of Mr. Miller, who’s reportedly angling to become Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, the adviser said that they were consistent with whatever the president was currently thinking," Zengerle wrote. "For the moment, though, it seems Mr. Miller and Mr. Trump are aligned — and that means Mr. Miller has achieved a level of success, and satisfaction, that he didn’t dream of during Mr. Trump’s first term."