Nicolai Haugsted
Stephen Miller unleashes on Trump’s opponents in breathless Fox News appearance.
Stephen Miller turned a discussion about the changing direction of the American left into an almost five-minute uninterrupted defense of Donald Trump and his administration during an appearance on Fox News.
Trump’s deputy chief of staff used his Wednesday interview on The Will Cain Show to attack progressive politics across a sweeping range of subjects, from policing and immigration to universities, transgender policies and legal challenges against the White House.
Miller spoke continuously for four minutes and 43 seconds before eventually acknowledging the unusual length of his answer.
“I’m sorry for this monologue, but it’s got to be said,” Miller told host Will Cain.
Debate over “woke” politics sets Miller off
The discussion followed progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan’s primary election last week and focused on whether the politics associated with the peak of the “woke” movement have genuinely disappeared or simply changed form.
Cain played Miller a clip from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s appearance on ABC’s This Week, during which the New York congresswoman recalled being told by a councilman that “Woke 1 was crazy.”
Miller rejected the idea that today’s progressive movement represents a meaningful departure from its earlier incarnation.
His response quickly broadened into an attack on Democratic governance in major cities. Chicago, Los Angeles and New York were singled out as Miller accused the left of conducting an “unrelenting war against police.”
Crime, drug overdoses and killings then became part of his argument.
“Sorry your husband was murdered. Sorry your mom was killed. Sorry, your loved ones are six feet under the ground now,” Miller said.
Praise for Trump turns into broader attack
Washington, D.C., provided Miller with his preferred contrast. Trump’s efforts to reduce crime in the capital were presented by the White House aide as evidence of a fundamentally different political philosophy.
Miller subsequently framed the ideological dispute in much broader terms.
“When you strip away all this woke labelling, it’s hatred for America, and it’s hatred for the people who have made America great. It’s hatred for the people who build and sustain things,” he said.
Democratic Socialists and what Miller described as “radical left ideologues” were also targeted during the lengthy answer, although he did not identify individual candidates by name.
Miller additionally criticized the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, saying its appearance filled him with “disgust.”
Trump’s legal battles enter the argument
Court challenges against Trump administration policies occupied another large portion of Miller’s monologue.
Immigration enforcement, Trump’s planned ballroom, policies concerning transgender prisoners and disputes involving schools and universities were all cited as examples of initiatives facing resistance.
“Every beautiful thing he wants to build, they want to block,” Miller said. “Every mile of border he wants to secure, they want to stop. Every illegal alien he wants to deport, they want to keep here.”
Miller went on to accuse Trump’s opponents of supporting racial discrimination and harmful policies involving children, while repeatedly arguing that universities had contributed to divisions based on race and ethnicity.
His answer eventually returned to the broader ideological argument that had started the exchange. Rather than accepting a distinction between an older version of “woke” politics and its current form, Miller portrayed the two as part of the same political project and presented the numerous court battles surrounding Trump’s agenda as evidence of that continuity.
