The Rise of Stephen Miller

"Since Donald Trump's first term, Stephen Miller has risen into an architect and enforcer of some of the president's most controversial policies. On Washington Week With The Atlantic, panelists joined to discuss the senior aide's rise, and how he's become one of the most powerful figures in the Trump administration."

"Miller "has always believed that there is a role for provocation and performance in politics," Atlantic staff writer McKay Coppins, who has previously written about how Miller's childhood and college experience influenced his work, argued last night."

"Between Trump's first and second terms, Miller's "ideology has been rather consistent. It's that he's more visible, more powerful, in this second term," Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent at The New York Times, continued. But whereas Miller was once limited to "being the architect in overseeing immigration policy in the Department of Homeland Security," Young said, he is now "trying to change the perception in the nation toward immigrants ... and there's more of a tolerance for the policies he's trying to implement.""

Stephen Miller rose from an immigration-policy architect to a central enforcer of controversial policies within the Trump administration. He embraces provocation and performance as tools of political strategy. His core ideology remained consistent between presidential terms while his visibility and influence increased in the second term. His role expanded from overseeing immigration policy at the Department of Homeland Security to efforts aimed at changing national perceptions of immigrants and increasing tolerance for stricter policies. The current environment shows greater acceptance of the policies he promotes.

Read at The Atlantic