Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is so involved in every aspect of the Trump administration’s efforts to radically reconfigure American democracy that congressional aides have reportedly begun complaining about his incessant phone calls.
Ignoring the fact that his “outreach wasn’t always welcome,” Miller would call congressional aides for lengthy, aimless conversations about illegal immigration that contained no specific requests, according to a damning new Wall Street Journal report.
One aide likened Miller to a “grandmother who wouldn’t stop talking,” and compared his phone calls to podcasts. Other aides said that Miller would call to scold them about how they had worded something in a press release or framed an issue in a social media post.
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The phone calls are just one example of the ways Miller has maneuvered himself into a position where he can micromanage almost every aspect of the Trump presidency.
This is despite Trump previously declining to promote Miller to a leadership role at the Department of Homeland Security during his first term, telling aides that he felt Miller “wasn’t leadership material.”
Miller has managed to ingratiate himself during Trump’s second term as one of the president’s most loyal allies. This has allowed him to influence immigration policy—an area he feels particularly passionate about—which in turn has led to an increase in ICE raids and extrajudicial deportations.
Miller’s efforts to enact his extreme anti-immigrant policies have even drawn criticism from some colleagues, who the WSJ reports have been “alarmed” by some of his suggestions, with Trump himself joking that Miller was too “happy” about deportations.
These moves include invoking the wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport migrants such as Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Last month, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration could not rely on a wartime law while the United States was not at war.
Miller’s involvement extends far beyond matters of national security and immigration, with the WSJ reporting that he has also spoken to CEOs about the administration’s tariff scheme, met with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the company’s antitrust case, and discussed AI with other tech companies.
The WSJ also reports that some posts at cabinet agencies have been described as reporting directly to Miller, bypassing cabinet secretaries.
White House staffers have criticized Miller’s tendency to take the most “extreme” and aggressive stance on any issue, which they feel is costing the Trump administration, especially in court.
During the first 100 days of Trump’s second term, the administration has been hit with injunctions in 25 court cases against the federal government, compared to six during his first term. During Biden’s four years as president, his administration was only served four.
