How is it that I didn’t really know about Stephen Miller until today? I feel so cheated. It’s like that day, back in high school, when I heard the Ramones for the first time and thought, “The last sixteen years of my life has been a fucking waste.” Seriously, I can’t believe I’ve been wasting my time obsessing about minor league propagandists like Sean Spicer and Kellyanne Conway, when a ghoulishly dead-eyed fascist like Miller was right there behind them the whole time, just waiting to be discovered. Well, thankfully, he got his shot on the big stage yesterday, and now I’m several hundred feet down the rabbit hole, reading about the non-white kids he unfriended upon discovering conservatism, his time spent learning at the feet of Michele Bachman and Jeff Sessions, and the recent anti-Muslim legislation he’s credited with having penned. He’s absolutely diabolical, and I can’t get enough of him. [I’ve seriously been watching videos for two hours now.] If you haven’t seen it yet, you have to watch this compilation of his Sunday morning appearances that was aired on MSNBC this morning. I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s one of the more appallingly anti-democratic displays I’ve seen in the nearly half century I’ve living in this country, and that’s coming from someone who watched live as Alexander Haig attempted to claim that he was in control of the government after Reagan was shot. [Miller essentially says that the judicial branch should back the fuck off, shut the fuck up, and let Trump do what he fucking wants.]
If you watch the above video past all of the Miller clips, you’ll see former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough go off on Trump’s 31 year old policy advisor, whose presence in the West Wing, he says, demonstrates that “there are some anti-democratic tendencies in this White House.” A bewildered Scarborough went on to say, “All they had to do this morning was quietly issue a new executive order… Why did they put him out (there)? Why did they push him? Why did they have him say undemocratic things? …Are they seeing how far they can push?” He then said that every Republican in Washington, DC, if they really care about the constitution and this democracy of ours, should speak out… Thus far, I don’t think any have. So I guess the administration will continue to test their limits.
For what it’s worth, Trump liked what he saw from Miller, saying it was a “great performance.” So, not only do we have Miller spouting things that are clearly anti-democratic and authoritarian, but we know that he’s doing so with Trump’s approval.
This, for what it’s worth, is how fascist regimes are born. They aren’t just created out of thin air. The people have to acquiesce. The people have to allow checks and balances to be suspended. The people have to allow the executive to seize more power. And that’s what’s happening here. Miller is setting the stage, saying that, in order to remain safe, we need to give Trump more power than the judiciary. This is truly chilling stuff. The question is, how will we respond. Will we fight for the judicial branch, or will we allow this to continue? Will we open the door to the vampire and allow him into our home?
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Miller said, “I think that it’s been an important reminder to all Americans that we have a judiciary that has taken far too much power and become in many cases a supreme branch of government” … “our opponents, the media, and the whole world will soon see, as we begin to take further actions, that the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned.”
Recently, Presidential Advisor (and NSC member) Steve Bannon said, “The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for awhile.”
Meanwhile, DJT himself said that (independent journalists in the media were) “the opposition party in many ways.”
Etc.
As these statements (and actions) become more and more authoritarian and undemocratic, people are asking “What does this all *mean?*”
I think many of us *know* what it means … but the reality of what is happening is so frightening and disorienting that we’re having a hard time acknowledging it.
Finally, God’s vessel is here.
So Trump’s executive orders are being written by an alcoholic white nationalist and a Jewish Nazi?
The only thing we need to worry about is the unborn.
And public schools.
God is working through Donald Trump.
We can’t pretend we don’t deserve this.
So you’re telling me that there’s someone worse than Bannon? Jesus!
It’s funny that you should reference vampire lore in this piece. Watching Miller this weekend, I had thoughts of vampires.
Everyone who hasn’t needs to be reading or re-reading Hannah Arendt’s On Totalitarianism right now. Or reading Masha Gessen’s recent articles in NY review of Books. There is a script they are following. And they are following it to the letter. There’s no consolation for me. The worst of what I imagined possible is happening. Resistance, while we still can, is critical. Prioritized resistance. They are trolls and can use our outrage against us. http://observer.com/2017/02/i-helped-create-the-milo-trolling-playbook-you-should-stop-playing-right-into-it/
and then there is Gorka and his wife…..
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/sebastian-gorka-inauguration-medal-order-vitez-horthy
God damn. That’s absolutely insane, Dave!
Holy shit. I have to admit again that I never thought it would’ve been this level of defcon terrible
4:00 mark. Satisfying if useless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F3tKTvaLT4
So…the only thing that i thiught this Miller guy that was accurate was this..The Power of the President to protect our country are substantial and then…he should have said that he himself beleives Donald Trump to be correct 100% of the time. Because clearly otherwise he is not that good at this either..and he is not going to last in that job much longer than next week.
It’s interesting that his talking voice sounds like yelling. Just like Spicer. Even more so. Can’t wait to see what SNL does with this chump.
I quit even trying to follow what this guy was saying…the idea that no one will question and Donald Trump was correct 100% will leave him a pat on the head for being a good boy and a kick in the pants when he gets faced with a mistake. Every day I stop watching the news more and more. He was a little loud.
More on Gorka. He is the Deputy Assistant to the President and is one of the members of Steve Bannon’s Strategic Initiatives Group. 2 weeks ago, he tried bringing a 9mm gun in his carry on luggage at Reagan Airport and was caught. Charges were dropped. He is, along with Bannon and Milo, a (former) Brietbart editor.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/31/steve-bannon-builds-a-new-node-of-power-in-the-trump-white-house.html
High school footage of Stephen Miller telling his California classmates that they shouldn’t have to pick up their own garbage as that’s what janitors are for.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/what-you-can-learn-about-stephen-miller-from-a-high-school-video/2017/02/15/0f7274e2-f391-11e6-9fb1-2d8f3fc9c0ed_video.html
In an Open Letter, 2,943 Fellow Duke Alumni Ask Trump Senior Adviser Stephen Miller How He Became Such a Horrible Person
Read more:
http://www.indyweek.com/news/archives/2017/02/17/in-an-open-letter-2943-fellow-duke-students-ask-trump-senior-adviser-stephen-miller-why-how-he-became-such-a-horrible-person
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[…] power hand sign during a recent television interview, and I suppose there could be something to it, as Miller has proven himself to an absolutely despicable human being, but it seems to me kind of like when, several years ago, people on the right were sharing photos […]