The Trump Administration's "Gray Cardinal": The Political Journey of MAGA Ideologue Stephen Miller

Following the Republicans’ crushing defeat in the midterm elections, Donald Trump seems to have decided not to abandon his most controversial ideas, but rather to take them to the extreme.

This paradoxical conclusion can be drawn from the U.S. president’s latest personnel decisions. On November 6, Trump appointed Stephen Miller – one of his most loyal allies and the chief architect of the U.S.’s hard-line immigration policy – as the new White House chief of staff.

24 Channel examined Stephen Miller’s background to understand when and how his reactionary views took shape, what he was known for during his time in the Trump administration, how he weathered the internal purges within the White House staff, and what this appointment will mean for Ukraine.

Scott Lucas, a professor of international politics at the Clinton Institute at University College Dublin, describes the key risks surrounding Miller’s appointment in an exclusive commentary for 24 Channel .

From Radical High School Student to Trump’s Right-Hand Man: The Political Journey of Stephen Miller

Donald Trump’s future ally was born in 1985 in the fairly liberal city of Santa Monica, California. Stephen Miller comes from a Jewish family, and his maternal ancestors themselves had once fled to the U.S. to escape the pogroms carried out in the early 20th century in what is now Belarus by the “far-right” of that time – fanatics of Russian tsarism.

However, this immigrant background did not prevent him from actively opposing multiculturalism as early as his school days, criticizing the use of Spanish, and regularly clashing with classmates and teachers over his political views.

Moreover, these very views began to take shape in the young Miller long before he met Donald Trump. Even as a teenager, the future White House chief stood out for not mincing words.

Stephen Miller was still in school and had a full head of hair when the U.S. invasion of Iraq began in 2003, and during one of his school trips , the 17-year-old Miller suggested on camera that Saddam Hussein and his henchmen have their fingers cut off, and on top of that, he even called torture “a celebration of life and human dignity,” since the tortured remain alive, and therefore it is much more humane than murder.

Young Stephen Miller reflects on Iraq – watch the video:

However, when VICEjournalists released this recordingin 2017, the White House stated that it was merely a teenage joke and not Miller’s actual political position.

Steven Miller later enrolled at the prestigious Duke University, where he continued his right-wing activism, and after graduating, he moved to Washington, D.C. There, he first worked on Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s staff and later became an aide to Senator Jeff Sessions – one of the most staunch opponents of immigration reform.

It was in this role that Miller joined the fight against legalizing millions of immigrants already living in the United States.

Miller speaks at a Donald Trump campaign rally in Arizona, 2016 / Photo – Wikimedia

Scott Lucas, an expert on American politics, in an interview with 24 Channel, highlights Stephen Miller’s path into national politics and notes his stubbornness and tenacity. Mr. Lucas also noted that Miller was a perfect fit for Trump, who was looking for people with an “unconventional” vision for his campaign.

On Trump’s team, Miller unexpectedly took on a major role and became one of the main speechwriters for the future president. In fact, the former clerk helped shape a relatively coherent political platform out of the fragmented statements of a charismatic but utterly inconsistent political novice.

Miller’s influence was immediately apparent, as the entire the MAGA ideology was – and still is – built around combating immigration, protecting American borders, and the slogan “America First.” It is therefore no surprise that after Trump’s victory, Miller was appointed senior advisor to the president, a position he held throughout the entire first term.

And here an interesting contrast emerges, one that attests to Miller’s significantly more privileged position within Trump’s team. After all, while other influential allies of the president left the administration one by one, Miller always remained close by.

Miller in the Situation Room during a meeting on missile strikes against Syria, 2017 / Photo – White House

Even after Donald Trump’s defeat in 2020, he did not leave politics for the private sector – the traditional path for government officials – but in 2021, he founded the conservative legal organization America First Legal, which has long sought to preserve Donald Trump’s political agenda and “legacy” even during Joe Biden’s presidency. They actively challenged Democratic initiatives in court, particularly regarding immigration and the protection of LGBTQ+ rights.

So when Trump returned to the White House in 2025, his longtime adviser also took on a new role – Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy.

This time, Miller did not limit himself to writing speeches or drafting policy programs and statements. He became one of the main organizers of a large-scale campaign to round up and deport migrants, and his influence gradually expanded to include issues of national security and U.S. foreign policy.

ICE raids and the “might makes right” approach: how Stephen Miller puts his political views into practice

It is important to understand that Stephen Miller does not merely share Donald Trump’s radical views on immigration. He is one of the chief architects of a policy that has sparked fierce controversy in American society for over a decade. Moreover, the scope of his ambitions became clear as early as Trump’s first presidential term.

It was Miller who was one of the initiators of the so-called “Muslim ban” – Trump’s 2017 executive order that restricted entry into the U.S. for citizens of several Muslim-majority countries. He later supported the “zero-tolerance” policy at the border with Mexico, which resulted in thousands of migrant children being forcibly separated from their parents. All of this was presented by the White House as necessary measures to protect national security.

Because of this, Stephen Miller’s uncle, Dr. David Glosser, called his nephew a hypocrite in a 2018 column for Politico, comparing his rhetoric to the actions of the Nazis.

“If my nephew’s ideas on immigration had been in effect a century ago, our family would have been completely wiped out,” David Glosser accuses his relative.

Miller’s great-grandfather, Wolf-Leib Glosser, arrived in the U.S. from the Russian Empire, fleeing anti-Semitic pogroms. He had only $8 in his pocket, but he made it. In contrast, all the relatives who were unable to leave for America at that time later perished in the Holocaust.

David Glosser’s column caused a major stir in the U.S., but it did not change his nephew’s views.

A detention center for undocumented immigrants in Texas / Photo – ACD Memorial

However, even more disturbing details about Miller’s views emerged in 2019, when the human rights organization Southern Poverty Law Center released more than 900 of his emails to the editors of the far-right publication Breitbart. It turned out that Trump’s future adviser actively disseminated materials from “white nationalists,” recommended racist literature, and promoted anti-immigration conspiracy theories. Moreover, more than 80% of the analyzed correspondence concerned racial issues and immigration.

After Trump returned to the White House in 2025, Miller had the opportunity to implement his ideas on a much larger scale. He became one of the main organizers of mass deportations, demanded that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reach a target of 3,000 detentions per day, and supported expanding raids far beyond the border states.

Scott Lucas believes the main reason for Stephen Miller’s brutality is his belief in conspiracy theories. In particular, he believes in the “Great Replacement” (Grand Remplacement), which claims that the so-called “global elites” are allegedly deliberately replacing the white European population with migrants. The theory originated in France, but it has taken deep root in the U.S. (which is itself a country of immigrants and, in fact, carried out its own “Great Replacement” at one time by taking land from indigenous peoples). This theory is also very popular among Russia’s ruling circles.

At the same time, the Trump administration has sought to undermine one of the pillars of American political culture – the right to citizenship by birth. This is not just another attempt to tighten immigration controls, but an effort to revise a principle enshrined in the U.S. Constitution by the 14th Amendment more than 150 years ago. It turns out that in its quest to get rid of unwanted immigrants, the Trump team is willing to call into question even those rights that have been considered inviolable for over a century.

An operation by ICE agentsto detain undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles / Photo – Wikimedia

However, Miller’s views were most clearly revealed in his reaction to U.S. special operation in Venezuela. Following the capture and arrest of Nicolás Maduro, he claimed that the U.S. allegedly has the right to control another country due to its military and economic superiority.

At one of his press briefings, Miller explicitly stated that the United States controls Venezuela because U.S. military forces are stationed off its coast and Washington dictates the terms of trade for Venezuelan oil. In fact, Miller constantly invokes the concept of “right” whenever the topic of U.S. foreign policy comes up.

“We live in the real world, which is governed by strength, coercion, and power. These are the iron laws of the world that have existed since the beginning of time,” Miller said.

Stephen Miller alongside Pentagon Chief Hegset and Vice President Vance at a meeting with U.S. Marines / Photo – Wikimedia

In essence, this is a worldview in which a state’s military and economic might becomes the primary factor in international relations, while the sovereignty of other countries takes a back seat. And although this position has drawn a wave of criticism even within the Republican Party due to violations of international law, Miller himself continued to support Washington’s hardline policies, particularly regarding missile strikes on ships that the Trump administration suspected of transporting drugs.

It appears that during his years working with Donald Trump, Stephen Miller has become firmly convinced that the best way to resolve political problems is to use force. Moreover, while he was previously primarily interested in how to get rid of unwanted migrants within the U.S., Miller’s ambitions now extend far beyond American borders. And for Washington’s allies, especially Ukraine, this can hardly be called good news.

Contrary to Voters’ Expectations: Why Trump Chose Miller to Lead the White House Staff

For Ukraine, Stephen Miller’s appointment as White House Chief of Staff is unlikely to signal an easing of tensions in relations with the U.S.

Although the new head of the presidential administration has repeatedly stated the need to end the Russian-Ukrainian war, his previous statements quite clearly demonstrate who, in his view, Washington should be forcing to compromise in this situation. And to twist their arms.

One need only recall the scandalous exchange between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. After the public quarrel in the Oval Office, Miller did not merely support the American president; he actually praised the attempt to humiliate the Ukrainian leader. On Fox News, he called the actions of Trump and J.D. Vance one of the most significant moments in American diplomacy, and later added:

“The only reason Zelenskyy has a country and remains in power is the United States. Americans have suffered economically by funding this war,” Miller said.

Moreover, in May 2025, while commenting on the “rare earth metals” agreement, he called it compensation for American taxpayers for helping Ukraine. Thus, in Miller’s statements, Ukraine’s struggle against the Russian invasion is increasingly turning into a matter of money, expenses, and – most importantly – debts to Washington.

However, as Scott Lucas aptly notes in an interview with 24 Channel, Stephen Miller demonstrates this unacceptable contempt not only toward foreign countries; the official also shows the same contempt for political institutions within the United States itself.

And although it would probably be an exaggeration to call the new White House leader an outright pro-Russian politician, his stance on Ukraine fits well with the worldview he previously demonstrated in the case of Venezuela. After all, for Miller, the U.S.’s military and economic superiority is sufficient grounds to exert pressure on other states, even if they are American allies.

Moreover, based on these very views, he likely sees nothing surprising in Russia’s desire to occupy Ukraine, since, within this paradigm, the Kremlin has the right to do so.

However, what is far more noteworthy is the circumstances under which Miller, in principle, received his new position. In the midterm elections on November 3, 2026, the Republicans suffered a crushing defeat, losing their majority in both houses of Congress at once. Moreover, Americans are increasingly annoyed by the very strict immigration policy that the new White House leader has been promoting for years. According to Reuters/Ipsos, only 37% of Americans approved of it, compared to 50% at the start of Trump’s second term.

It would seem that after such a defeat, Trump should at least try to change course. But instead, the president decided to promote one of the main architects of the policy that is increasingly irritating Americans.

So the blame for the campaign’s failure – in which, let’s recall, Trump actively urged voters to cast their ballots as if it were a referendum on their trust in him personally – was placed squarely on the former Chief of Staff – Suzie Wiles, while Miller was given carte blanche.

Now Miller will have to deal with Democrats, who have secured a majority in both houses of Congress and are already preparing investigations against the Trump administration. And one of the first targets could be his pet project – the mass deportation of migrants. However, Miller certainly won’t give up his brainchild without a fight.

Scott Lucas predicts that Miller will escalate the situation and try to take ICE’s high-handedness to an even higher level.

And here it is worth recalling the path that Stephen Miller himself has taken – from a teenager who joked about torturing Iraqis to the architect of a closed-border policy, a proponent of U.S. military intervention, and one of Donald Trump’s closest allies.

Interestingly, over the years, Miller has repeatedly found himself at the center of high-profile political scandals, yet each time he managed only to strengthen his position in Washington.

Thus, Miller’s appointment may indicate that Donald Trump intends to spend the last two years of his presidency not seeking compromises with Democrats – as he stated immediately after the election – but engaging in a new confrontation with his political opponents.

This is evident not so much from the appointment of his most radical adviser to run the White House as from the fact that, just days ago, Americans effectively voted against the very policies that Stephen Miller himself had been pushing for years.