Stephen Miller Named White House Chief of Staff — SkimNews
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- Trump announced Friday in a social media post that Stephen Miller will take over as White House chief of staff next week, replacing Susie Wiles, who served in the role for the past two years.
- Stephen Miller is the chief architect of the administration's widely decried mass deportation policy, and critics cited his long documented history of promoting white nationalist literature and conspiracy theories as grounds for the backlash.
- Hakeem Jeffries called Miller a "dangerous xenophobe and reckless extremist who has American blood on his hands" and said his presence in government "should be eradicated like a malignant tumor," while House Homeland Security Democrats called the promotion "a vile, hate-filled extremist" move.
- Robert Garcia, who is in line to chair the House Oversight Committee, advised Miller to "lawyer up" and said Oversight Democrats "will continue to investigate Miller for his misconduct," citing his role in the "unconstitutional" ICE raids.
- Don Bacon, an outgoing Republican congressman, called the pick "not a good choice," arguing Miller turned immigration from two-to-one favorable to two-to-one unfavorable and "cost us seats in Texas and Arizona" by alienating Hispanic voters who backed Trump in 2024; Marlin Stutzman called it a "horrible decision."
- Pramila Jayapal called the appointment "a giant middle finger to every single voter who came out to the polls," while Mark Pocan said Trump elevated a hard-liner after the party's "historic defeat" in the 2026 midterm elections and JB Pritzker wrote, "These losers learned nothing."
- Jamelle Bouie argued the promotion puts "all of us in genuine danger" but delivered Democrats a path to "60-plus Senate seats in 2029," and Chris Hayes made a similar case for a "1964/1980/2008-style victory for Dems in 2028."
Why it matters: Moving Miller into the White House's top post places the mass-deportation architect at the center of immigration policy, and Republicans themselves credit his hard-lining with costing GOP seats in Texas and Arizona and turning a two-to-one favorable issue two-to-one unfavorable. House Oversight Democrats say their investigation of Miller will continue.
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