Ridicule poured in for top White House aide Stephen Miller when President Donald Trump named him chief of staff days after Republicans lost control of Congress.
Trump announced the move Friday on Truth Social, calling Stephen Miller, his deputy chief of staff, “one of my most trusted advisors.”
Stephen Miller replaces Chief of Staff Susie Wiles on Monday, and Trump said Wiles will move to his political operation.
Democrats won control of the House and Senate in Tuesday’s midterm elections, Al Jazeera reported. Stephen Miller is a key architect of the administration’s hard-line immigration policies, the Associated Press reported.
Democrats, journalists and other Trump critics answered the news by mocking Stephen Miller.
"Stephen Miller is a dangerous xenophobe and reckless extremist who has American blood on his hands," Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who could become House Speaker, blasted in a post on X. "His presence in government should be eradicated like a malignant tumor. Fire him today."
“Trump is doubling down on terror with Nazi wannabe Miller,” X user Tom Joseph wrote.
“America, I hear your message loud and clear. Changes must be made,” Onion CEO Ben Collins posted on Bluesky in Trump’s voice. “I am replacing the only person in my administration who listens to the demons screaming at her at night with a rotted out egg from Hell made of human diarrhea.”
“[T]his really feels like the last stop before the bunker,” independent journalist Marisa Kabas posted.
“With Miller we see [Trump’s] entirely predictable response, trying to force feed the country what it just spit up,” Talking Points Memo founder Josh Marshall wrote.
“These losers learned nothing,” Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) wrote.
Another critic went after the Millers’ own voting record.
“Miller wanted this outcome. That’s why he and his wife didn’t even vote, and he did nothing to change policy to prevent total collapse,” David J. Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, wrote on X.
“I did not vote in Virginia because, in Virginia, when you vote, you dox your own address, and so I prefer my own safety and security over giving that up,” Katie Miller, a conservative podcaster and Stephen Miller's wife, told CBS News on election night, HuffPost reported.
The Daily Beast said it asked the White House whether Stephen Miller also skipped the vote.
Katie Miller’s own words back up her half of Bier’s claim, but whether Stephen Miller voted remains unconfirmed.
“You see that moms are too busy raising their children and taking care of them to go to the polls,” Katie Miller said moments before her admission, offering a reason for the Republican losses, according to HuffPost. She is a mother of four who did not vote herself.
Critics also said the promotion rewarded Stephen Miller instead of changing course after the losses.
“Trump just rewarded the guy who lost them Texas,” national security journalist Marcy Wheeler, who posts as emptywheel, wrote.
“For those who hoped the @POTUS might pivot to work with the incoming Congress, the appointment of Miller is a bucket of ICE cold water,” former White House senior adviser David Axelrod wrote.
In October, Politico reported that Trump had floated Stephen Miller as a possible replacement for Wiles, the Daily Beast noted.
“The Susie Wiles story was a fake story,” Trump told CNN’s Kristen Holmes on Oct. 16, saying there was “zero chance” he was considering replacing her, NBC Palm Springs reported. “Susie is here and she’s gonna be here for a long time.”
Three weeks later, Trump did what he had dismissed as a fake story and gave Wiles’ job to an aide that report had named.
One Democratic lawmaker warned Stephen Miller that his new job could come with a cost.
“Miller, don’t get too comfortable with your new title,” Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) said in a statement Kabas posted on Bluesky. “Part of the benefits package for your promotion is accountability for all the pain you have caused.”
In April, Ramirez moved to subpoena Stephen Miller after he did not testify at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing Democrats had called, according to her office.
Her party will soon have the power to back up that warning. When the new Congress convenes in January, Democrats will control the House and its committees, including the one where Ramirez tried to make Stephen Miller answer questions.
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