Appointing Stephen Miller to replace Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, President Donald Trump signaled he’ll adopt a combative approach to dealing with the incoming Democratic-controlled Congress. Indeed, notwithstanding the differences between a democratically elected leader in peacetime and a despotic dictator in wartime, this is Trump’s equivalent of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s Order No. 227.
Issued in July 1942, Order No. 227 came alongside a successful German offensive that threatened key Soviet interests. The order instructed Red Army forces to hold ground at all costs and to shoot troops who retreated. As Stalin put it, “… it is time to finish retreating. Not one step back! Such should now be our main slogan.”
Miller is well known as one of Trump’s most personally favored and trusted advisers. He is also a political fighter who chooses aggressive political confrontation and maneuver over Wiles’s more cordial and collaborative approach. Crucially, Miller is also a firm adherent of testing the extreme limits of executive branch power. Most of all, he is an ideological true believer, someone who views politics as a continuation of war by other means.
Miller ensures that Trump will issue increasingly bold executive orders that seek to enact policy outside of congressional legislation. Expect Democrats to file many lawsuits and pass countermanding laws. Expect the Supreme Court to have to weigh in repeatedly. This selection also suggests that Trump will respond with hostility to the inevitable subpoenas and investigations that congressional Democrats are sure to commence.
The new chief of staff is also likely to push for increased military action against drug cartels in Latin America, which has been a key priority for Miller. And although his antagonistic negotiating stance might provoke fear in allied capitals, Miller has established good working relationships with a number of foreign embassies in Washington such as that of the United Kingdom.
At a philosophical level, this appointment also shows that Trump is responding to the Republican Party’s midterm election disaster with retrenchment rather than introspection. Miller’s ascension is a very thinly veiled one-fingered salute to Democrats and to Republicans who believe the president should take greater responsibility for what has just happened. Miller also reinforces the argument, as I made earlier this week, that Trump’s governance will become even more unpredictable.
While many moderate Republicans, Democrats, and independents will view Miller’s selection as bad news, others will be less concerned. MAGA ideologues, particularly those who favor robust immigration enforcement activities, will be happy. They want Trump to roll the dice and make the greatest possible use of his final two years in power. Certainly, Trump is signaling that he has no intention of establishing a detente with Democrats in order to pass bipartisan legislation.
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As a strange side note, Miller’s passion for the declassification of long-secret government records on unidentified flying objects will also excite those interested in that field. After all, Miller now has the bureaucratic power to focus White House resources and enforce speedier government and Pentagon action toward declassification.
The future is uncertain. But one thing is for sure: The nation’s partisan furies are here to stay.