In Any Other Time, Miller’s Racial Obsession Wouldn’t be Tolerated
After the recent revelations that Stephen Miller is a bonafide white nationalist, exposed by two reports last week from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), more outrage and attention continues to drive the conversation that one of Trump’s highest advisors’ anti-immigrant sentiments ran deep way before his trip to the White House, including his stint in then-Sen. Jeff Sessions’, R-AL, office as well as his time in college at Duke University.
Now, more than 80 Members of Congress have called for Miller to resign citing that white nationalism has “no place in the White House, the halls of Congress or anywhere, for that matter,” after Miller cited a racist French novel in one of his 900 emails to Breitbart, to define its immigration narrative and shape White House policies. Democratic caucus leaders in a joint statement said,
As documented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Stephen Miller has embedded himself in white nationalist doctrine for years, including promoting racist propaganda from fringe sites like VDARE and InfoWars…And as the chief architect of the Muslim Ban and cruel family separation policies, Stephen Miller has spent the last three years turning his bigotry into policy – with President Trump’s blessing.
In a must-read piece in the New York Times, Katie Rogers and Jason DeParle further reveal the anti-immigrant sites that embody Miller’s hardline white nationalist agenda. VDARE as well as the American Renaissance, both referenced and supported by Miller in his emails “believes that diversity has weakened the United States” referencing their point of view of the Constitution and that those who wrote it were not people of color. These websites have steered Miller’s right-wing movement directly aligning with his racist policies.
And while there is direct proof within the 900 emails foreshadowing his staunch anti-immigration policies in the White House, the Trump administration has come to his defense in an ugly attempt to smear those outraged by Miller, claiming it’s an anti-Semitic attack. White House Press Sec. Hogan Gidley, who discredited the SPLC, said in response;
I work with Stephen. I know Stephen. He loves this country and hates bigotry in all forms – and it deeply concerns me as to why so many on the left consistently attack Jewish members of this Administration.
When the emails were first revealed, Noah Lanard of Mother Jones assessed last week that his xenophobic stance on immigration created real institutional and policy changes in the White House.
In a normal administration, the views laid out in Miller’s emails would be disqualifying. In a Trump administration, it makes him essential. In fact, many of the opinions he laid out in the emails have become part of the policies Miller has helped enact in the White House, from cutting refugee admissions to record lows to separating families at the border.
According to Douglas Rivlin, Director of Communication for America’s Voice: “Stephen Miller and his fellow travelers in the anti-immigrant and white nationalist movements should be restricted to the fringes of society, not embraced by Republicans and allowed to shape and implement U.S. policy in the White House or anywhere else. But the Trump Administration is not only sticking by Miller, but attempting to defend the indefensible by pretending that Miller’s opponents are motivated by anti-Semitism. It’s a vile if not surprising development from an administration that is embracing and implementing cruel and ugly ideas.”
