Of all the disturbing trends to flourish under Donald Trump perhaps none has been more rapid and dramatic than the assault on those most cherished of American values: liberty and democracy. In their place has risen an ever-growing immigration enforcement apparatus, well-funded and eager to raid homes and workplaces in the obsessive hunt for so-called ‘illegals’. Add to this the attempted federal takeover of Democrat-run cities, pressure campaigns on universities accused of harbouring ‘antisemites’ (redefined as critics of Israel), intimidation of the press and mass detention camps. The man behind these and many other policies to create this ‘Republic of Fear’ is 40-year-old California-born Stephen Miller, the perpetually scowling senior advisor who has haunted the Trump orbit since 2016.
Miller chose his path early in life as a publicity-seeking iconoclast who embraced all the worst aspects of the American Nightmare. Born and raised in Santa Monica – a wealthy, mostly liberal enclave – Miller’s turn toward hard-right xenophobia was driven by a blend of personal grievance, ideological hunger and relentless ambition. His ancestors fled antisemitic pogroms under the czarist Russian empire, but that was apparently no barrier to his championing of policies that would have blocked Jewish refugees from safety today.
