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I
t was after 3 a.m. on Nov. 6 last year, and nobody on the planet was happier than a balding, slender man standing near the reception desk of the Hilton West Palm Beach.
Donald Trump had just finished hosting his 2024 election watch party at the adjacent Florida convention center, declaring victory in a speech eloquently touting “the most incredible political thing.” Jubilant Republican donors, campaign staff, future government officials, and attendees (of course, Jon Voight) flooded over to the luxury hotel to celebrate.
At the front of the lobby stood Stephen Miller, the man Trump would soon tap as his White House’s undisputed orchestrator of policies and executive authority.
Miller had been one of the first Trump administration’s key policy drivers, particularly when it came to the president’s throttling of legal immigration. Senior officials in President Joe Biden’s administration will tell you the country is still living with the damage Miller did to immigration during Trump’s first term, and that the Biden team was unable, or unwilling, to undo much of it with their four years in power.
But that night in Florida, something was different for the then-39-year-old Miller. A universe of possibilities was unfurling before him.
Amid the revelry, Miller huddled with other high-ranking Trump personnel and said his thank you’s to the ad hoc procession of euphoric conservative voters and GOP bigwigs who congratulated him over and over. They all could see it wasn’t just Trump’s victory that night — it was Miller’s, and many felt obliged to kiss his Trump-endowed ring.
To see the expression of unbridled joy written across Miller’s face at that moment of Trump’s restoration was to stare into the eyes of someone who could see the future: Trump’s top adviser, his most faithful believer, the one close aide who had somehow survived the countless purges of MAGA officials in the first term, knew the country was now his.
Speaking to one overjoyed woman, Miller said, “It’s gonna be great.”
More than seven months into Trump’s second term, Stephen Miller has become America’s — if not the world’s — most powerful unelected bureaucrat. With Trump’s blessing, Miller has been allowed to run and remake the country in a manner virtually unheard of for a U.S. government official of his rank. Think of any egregious policy from the Trump administration: Chances are, it was driven by Stephen Miller.
All of it bears Trump’s signature, but the president is not the one spending his nights writing executive orders and bending legal theory to his will; nearly all of this bears the authorship (or, at least, co-authorship) of Miller. Everything you loathe or love about Donald Trump’s America, you hate or cherish about Stephen Miller’s republic of fear.
Under Miller’s guiding hand, the government can deport (or kidnap and rendition) you or your spouse, without due process, to a foreign gulag, if the president feels like it. The White House can repeatedly threaten to take away the most basic of constitutional protections, such as habeas corpus. The president can launch Justice Department criminal investigations against his enemies who, by all known accounts, did nothing wrong except annoy the commander-in-chief, or refuse to help him steal an election. The president and his lieutenants can arrest you at a routine courthouse check-in, at your church, outside your kid’s school, even if you have no criminal record. They’ve instituted a heavily draconian system of immigration arrest “quotas,” ensuring a regime not mainly of mass deportation, but of mass disappearances and indefinite detention in jails and newly erected camps.
They’ve quickly turned much of federal law enforcement into the masked, nameless, unaccountable secret police, working at the whims of the president and his staff. The president can deploy armed National Guard troops, and even U.S. Marines, to the streets of an American city any time he wants — and deem it enemy territory. The administration has made censoring media organizations, comedians, and aging rock stars a policy priority, in an anti-free-speech crusade waged from the West Wing to the Federal Communications Commission.
“Shadow Sec Def.”
“Prime Minister Miller.”
“The REAL Attorney General.”
“The DHS boss.”
“President Miller.”
Trump administration officials and other Republicans close to the president and this White House are paranoid that Miller will one day hear them gossiping about him behind his back — but they still whisper the unofficial titles and nicknames that they bestow onto the White House deputy chief of staff.
When Rolling Stone asks one senior administration official about former Fox News star and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, this source says, unprompted, that “he does what Stephen wants him to do.”
‘One Intense Motherfucker’
As a teenager in Santa Monica, California, Miller craved nothing more than triggering the good-looking kids in school who wanted nothing to do with him.
Jason Islas, who first met Miller at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica, says he and Miller and a third friend were a tight-knit band of outsiders who spent middle school doing preteen-boy stuff, like talking about Star Trek (Islas remembers Miller as a big Captain Kirk fan). That all changed, though, in the summer of 1999, between eighth and ninth grades, when, Islas says, Miller informed him they couldn’t be friends anymore. “One of the things he did say was that he didn’t like the fact that I’m of Latin heritage,” Islas recalls.
In the decades that followed, Miller did not grow — except to become more hardened in his extremist views. When he worked as a communications aide in the office of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions during the Obama years, he was so widely disliked by his conservative colleagues on Capitol Hill that Republican staff in other offices would invent or spread malicious rumors about Miller, such as that he liked to play with porcelain dolls. (A White House official insists that any such characterization of his time on the Hill is “inaccurate and baseless gossip.”) The staffers at the time never dreamed that he’d ever amount to much more than a punch line or an obscure cautionary tale of what happens when you read too many far-right hate websites and dive into Washington’s most feverish swamps.
Even today, not much has changed. As the president’s policy architect and enforcer, he is obsessed, according to three Trump advisers, with deploying the might of the government to stamp out what he deems “anti-white hatred” and “anti-white racism” and “anti-white discrimination” — no matter the cost.
Miller speaks almost exclusively in apocalyptic terms, in the caricatured language of military combat, forever war, and invasion against the culture and the homeland.
He’s yearned to erect a vast hyper-militarized network of what he’s dubbed “camps” for detention and mass deportation — a network he hopes will change the American political and physical landscape forever.
Miller, who is Jewish, has been denounced by his own uncle as a one-man betrayal of Jewish moral and political values. Miller has long held the deepest admiration for the Immigration Act of 1924, and wishes to bring America back to those days. The law is notorious for making the Holocaust deadlier for Jews who tried to flee the Nazis, only to be denied safe passage to the U.S.
Immediately after election night 2024 was called, human rights groups and pro-immigration advocates could not help but consider that they were not prepared for the onrush that Miller was about to unleash. Of all of the Trump appointees, he was the one who kept them up at night. For all of incoming Trump “border czar” Tom Homan’s big talk on mass deportations, he was nothing compared to Miller. To those familiar with Homan’s work, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could recognize, occasionally, that there were some rules and restrictions, here and there. For a guy like Miller, the only laws that mattered were the ones he and Trump could pervert.
Miller may be the avatar of the anonymous racist internet troll brought to agonizing life and imbued with power. But that does not mean he doesn’t thoroughly believe in the righteousness of the ideology he’s selling. In his mind, he’s the triumphant hero — a one-man antidote to effete liberalism, and a holy warrior against the permissive legal and illegal immigration that has left him and his peers feeling mugged by pluralistic reality.
Talk to Republicans operating at the highest levels of Trumpville and you get a unique mix of admiration and unease when you ask them what they think about Miller. “One intense motherfucker,” a longtime Trump adviser notes.
Even attempts by his friends to make him sound gentler, kinder, or funnier often fall flat, making him seem like a crank or the meanest dork you’ve ever met. For instance, multiple longtime Miller associates say that the top White House aide is one of the most “MAHA” people you’ll ever meet, and has plunged headlong into Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-style food and health (or anti-health) agitprop. Accounts of his social life make him sound, to put it gently, tedious.
One conversational victim of his recounts to Rolling Stone what it was like to get hit on by a premarital Miller, circa 2017, at a bar not far from Dupont Circle. The story involves being grilled about which country was named on the collar of her clothing (don’t say China), and getting accused of being a “globalist” because she wasn’t the right kind of conservative.
Female strangers aren’t the only ones in Washington who think he’s weird. Over the years of their close working relationship, President Trump — ever the gossipy Mean Girl with a nuclear arsenal — has not shied away from insulting Miller behind his back. According to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter, Trump has commented to others in the past about Miller’s intense, awkward, and at times off-putting demeanor.
But to Trump, Miller is a useful battering ram, the policy answer to his lingering question of “Where’s my Roy Cohn?”
“Stephen Miller has been one of President Trump’s longest serving and most trusted advisers for nearly a decade, and I can personally attest to the respect the president has for Stephen because I witness it every day,” says White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. “That’s why Stephen serves as the deputy chief of staff for policy and Homeland Security adviser, because the president has the utmost faith in him and his proven leadership abilities. In addition to being extremely effective at his jobs, Stephen is a loyal colleague and friend. Any suggestion otherwise is false gossip from people who don’t actually know him.”
In addition to the press secretary’s statement, the Trump White House sent Rolling Stone a lengthy list of testimonials — resembling an extremely MAGA LinkedIn endorsements section — from Republican lawmakers to prove that people like Stephen Miller personally.
Sen. Josh Hawley, for instance, says he’s glad to call Miller “a friend,” adding that “he cares deeply about helping create a future where American families can thrive.”
“Stephen Miller is bright, thoughtful, takes the time to listen to our members and their concerns, and has always been easy to work with,” says House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise, adding: “I am proud to call Stephen Miller a close friend.”
The White House provided similar statements from Sen. Tom Cotton, Sen. Mike Lee, and Rep. Jim Jordan, with a spokesperson saying they expected that all of the lawmakers’ praise for Miller would be included in this story.
‘Get It Done’
Nowadays, according to various sources working in and close to the Trump West Wing, the president’s lieutenant is technically a deputy White House chief of staff, but he far outpaces the actual White House chief of staff — Trump’s former 2024 campaign co-chief Susie Wiles — as Trump’s primary chief of administration policy.
Miller touches virtually every policy and executive action (especially as it relates to domestic initiatives), effectively all documents, Trump directives, constitutionally dubious orders, and memos. The architecture of Trump’s military crackdowns (in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and coming to a Democratic-dominant city near you) is in part a product of Miller’s vision for dominating liberal strongholds he despises.
“It’s a blast for Stephen,” says another fellow Trump adviser, in describing Miller’s role in orchestrating the domestic deployments of U.S. armed forces.
The Trump administration’s sweeping clampdown on diversity programs, higher education, and free speech Trump does not care for is a direct expression of Miller’s ethos, bringing to life a long-held ambition of federalizing the conservative “culture war” in ways once thought uncouth. Trump’s sprawling immigration and border enforcement is just “The Stephen Miller Show,” brought to you by Stephen Miller Productions LLC, and personally stage-managed by Stephen Miller.
With each shred of paper that the president will sign to launch these domestic programs, the Trump lieutenant peruses it, sometimes marks it up with edits, and pushes other Trump officials across the federal apparatus to, in his words, “get it done.”
His berating of intra-departmental and agency officials has become the stuff of legend, if not waking nightmares. Since the beginning of the second Trump administration, two sources who’ve worked in the federal government and have personally dealt with Miller tell Rolling Stone that his berating has made them each cry at work.
During intra-agency discussions, Miller has routinely name-called, yelled, threatened officials’ jobs or future in the party, and attempted to humiliate people in front of their colleagues. He becomes enraged if he feels the immigrant-arrest numbers aren’t padded enough, or if he believes Trump’s domestic agenda is being stalled, even slightly. He is known for working long hours and micromanaging the brutal policies coming out of the new administration. He has a longstanding reputation, dating back to 2017, in the Republican upper ranks as someone willing to say anything, do anything, and betray almost anyone, in the service of Trump and, more vitally, keeping his power and proximity to the president intact.
Within the highest levels of the Trump administration, the idea that Attorney General Pam Bondi runs the Justice Department or that Kristi Noem runs the Department of Homeland Security is woefully incomplete. Nominally independent departments are run by the West Wing of the White House — and therefore, largely, by Miller.
When some government personnel would note that Trump can deploy National Guard troops and armed U.S. Marines to Democratic-run urban areas, but that the troops can’t conduct traditional law enforcement, per se, Miller was the one telling administration lawyers and staff that Trump wanted them to figure out ways around that legal inconvenience, and to report back with whatever legal theories they’d produce.
Miller has made it a top priority for the opening months of this Trump term to normalize the deployment of U.S. troops on American soil — not for states of emergency, but for domestic political purposes. According to those who’ve spoken with them about it, Trump and Miller view those who object as “weak,” “cowards,” and “pro-crime.”
‘We Just Have to Follow Orders’
In the aftermath of Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and U.S. Marines to assist with ICE operations in Los Angeles, Miller insisted that purging undocumented migrants from the city would create a utopia for the remaining residents.
“You have any idea how many resources will be opened up for Americans when the illegals are gone?” Miller told Fox News. “No more waiting in line at an emergency room, no more massive traffic in Los Angeles. Your health insurance premiums go down, your public-school classroom size will shrink … and if you do need to get support from the government, you’re not going to be in line behind millions of illegal aliens from the third world. This is going to be such a gift to the quality of life of everyday Americans.”
In July, when speaking to the press pool in front of the White House, Miller was asked if it was the best use of the administration’s resources to be going after “moms with young kids.” In return, he grilled the reporter on what percentage of undocumented migrants should be allowed to stay. “Do you think we have some sort of Magic 8 Ball to see which particular illegal aliens … are going to go on to commit a rape or murder?”
Miller has no legal background, but according to Trump officials, Miller was the mastermind behind Trump’s ploy to use the Alien Enemies Act to conduct mass deportations without due process, a plot he detailed in 2023 during an interview with conservative radio hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
Miller was also the first member of the administration to publicly suggest the suspension of habeas corpus, the core constitutional right of protection from arbitrary detention by the state. Speaking to reporters at the White House in May, Miller said, “The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion, so I would say that is an option we’re actively looking at.” There is, of course, no invasion.
For those who want to grasp the true nature of Miller’s legacy and his role in our world, you have to look far beyond 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. To understand Trump’s principal enforcer, you need to understand what he is doing to countless people, all over the country — and then you’d have to understand his personal, instinctive response when he hears about the stories of his victims.
Across the country there are thousands of families ripped apart by the Trump-Miller gang, and most of those stories you won’t read about or may never hear about. One of these was relayed earlier this year to Rolling Stone by an Ohio-based immigration lawyer. This magazine verified details of this account, and agreed to use pseudonyms for the wife, husband, and three-year-old daughter. The lawyer asked not to be identified, due to Miller’s and the Trump administration’s zeal for targeting pro bono immigration attorneys.
In 2020, “Richard” (as we’ll call him) fled his Latin American home country to seek asylum in the U.S. As Richard will tell you, he had served in the military in his home country, but had grown fearful of what might happen to him if he remained, citing corruption and powerful organized crime.
By 2025, he had already made a life for himself in the United States. He had a wife — “Ellen” — and a small daughter, “Jessica,” and they were living in Columbus, Ohio. He worked to support the family, and Ellen stayed home with Jessica. There is no known history of petty or violent crime or any criminal record between them. However, in early 2024, the couple showed up for one of their scheduled hearings and left without actually attending it, but only because somebody at the check-in desk erroneously told them they were not on the schedule that day. That one mishap — which by all accounts, was not their fault — was enough to doom their family under Trump’s second administration.
This past June, Richard received a text message from ICE asking that he appear for a check-in at the local ICE office. Due to the Trump administration’s barrage of new policies and arrest quotas pushed by Miller and Trump, his lawyer was suspicious. Still, Richard had faith in this great country. He wanted to show he was no criminal, that he wanted to come here the right way, and that he had nothing to hide.
The Ohio-based attorney met the family of three at the federal check-in outside of Columbus, with all of them waiting in line to get into the building. Jessica and Ellen were wearing matching attire — Jessica’s hair in pigtails with ribbons, wearing a pink dress. The lawyer recalls the daughter and father laughing as Jessica played with her dad’s cheeks, which he blew up as if to mimic a puffer fish.
After they passed the waiting area, two armed ICE officers would soon flank them, and one of them told the attorney and the family that the officers had no choice. ICE had its directive “from Washington,” the officer said, which had been issued after Trump’s inauguration in January — new standards and demands for higher arrest and deportation numbers (regardless of any existing criminal record) that were directly authored by Miller.
The officer said they had to put the father in handcuffs right then and there, and take him away. “We just have to follow orders,” the ICE officer said.
At first, the Spanish-speaking family did not know what was happening. The lawyer had to translate all of this, back and forth, as the couple and their legal representative pleaded with the ICE officers to allow them to self-deport as a family. Surely doing so would save the American taxpayer money.
The ICE officer apologized. There was nothing anyone, apparently, could do.
The officers were courteous enough to offer to allow Ellen and Jessica to leave the room, so the child did not have to see them handcuffing her dad. The father squatted low to pick up Jessica and hug her goodbye. Jessica, confused and sobbing, would not let go, wrapping her arms around her father’s neck and her legs around his body.
One of the two ICE officers informed the family they needed to get things moving along, just as Ellen had her hands around Jessica’s waist, unable — at first — to pry the preschool-age girl off her dad. One ICE officer had his hand on the father’s shoulder, while the other officer hovered over the family.
“Daddy!” the girl screamed in Spanish. “I want Daddy! I want my daddy!”
Ellen was finally able to remove a hysterical Jessica from the room, and as the ICE officers took Richard, she kept yelling, “Daddy, Daddy, Noooooooooo!!!!” As they walked back to the waiting room, the lawyer could see the faces of the immigrants and others who were sitting in the waiting area, looking on in confused horror at what must have been waiting for them on the other side of that door. Months later, the attorney tells Rolling Stone, “I can still hear the little girl’s screams.”
Ellen and Jessica would pack up and leave for Richard’s home country. The two expected to reunite with him there within days. Instead, to their terror, the Trump administration disappeared him into a Louisiana detention facility for nearly two months. They have since been reunited, but the scars have yet to heal. The lawyer says that Jessica still wakes up in the middle of the night, shouting for “Daddy.”
Under every modern president there is harsh immigration enforcement, and heartbreaking decisions are made. But this story is only happening because the Trump White House and Miller are leaning on agencies to crack down in every state, just so Miller can run up the scoreboard on arrests.
To you, this may seem sad, even appalling. To Miller, he thinks your outrage is very funny. In private conversations this year, the top Trump adviser has said that liberals promoting immigrant families’ “sob stories” are engaging in emotional “blackmail” that Miller and the government simply will not fall for. He laughs it off, before getting back to work creating more horror stories.
