Stephen Miller is U.S. President Donald Trump's senior advisor for policy. Prior to this, he was the communications director for then-Alabama senator, Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He also served as a press secretary to Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and Congressman John Shadegg.

Miller has acted as Trump's chief speechwriter and is credited with authoring the president's “American carnage” inaugural address. He has been a key adviser since the early days of Trump's presidency and was a chief architect of Trump's executive order restricting immigration from several Middle Eastern countries.

Miller grew up in a liberal-leaning Jewish family in Santa Monica, California. Though his parents were Democrats, Miller became a conservative after reading Guns, Crime, and Freedom, a book by National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre. While attending Santa Monica High School, Miller began appearing on conservative talk radio.

In 2007, Miller received his bachelor's degree from Duke University, majoring in political science. Miller served as president of the Duke chapter of David Horowitz's Students for Academic Freedom and wrote conservative columns for the school newspaper. Miller gained national attention for his defense of the students who were wrongly accused of rape in the Duke lacrosse case. While attending Duke University, Miller accused the poet Maya Angelou of racial paranoia and described student organization Chicano Student Movement of Aztlán (MEChA) as a radical national Hispanic group that believes in racial superiority.

After graduating from college, Miller worked as a press secretary for Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and Congressman John Shadegg, both members of the Republican Party. Miller started working for Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions in 2009, rising to the position of communications director. In the 113th Congress, Miller played a major role in defeating the bi-partisan Gang of Eight's proposed immigration reform bill. As part of his role as communications director, Miller was responsible for writing many of the speeches Sessions gave about the bill. Miller and Sessions developed what Miller describes as nation-state populism, a response to globalization and immigration that would strongly influence Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. Miller also worked on Dave Brat's successful 2014 House campaign, which unseated Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

In January 2016, Miller joined Donald Trump's 2016 campaign for president, serving as a senior policy adviser. Starting in March 2016, Miller frequently spoke on behalf of the Trump campaign, serving as a warm-up act for Trump. Miller wrote the speech Trump gave at the 2016 Republican National Convention. In August 2016, Miller was named as the head of Trump's economic policy team.

In November 2016, Miller was named national policy director of Trump's transition team. On December 13, 2016, the transition team announced that Miller would serve as Senior Advisor to the President for Policy during the Trump administration.

In the early days of the Trump administration, Miller worked with Senator Jeff Sessions, President Trump's nominee for Attorney General, and Steve Bannon, Trump's chief strategist, to enact policies restricting immigration and cracking down on sanctuary cities. Miller, along with Bannon, was involved in the creation of Executive Order 13769, which restricts U.S. travel and immigration by individuals from seven countries, suspends the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) for 120 days, and indefinitely suspends entry of Syrians to the United States.

Miller made unsubstantiated accusations that there was significant voter fraud in the 2016 presidential election and that thousands of illegal voters were bused in to New Hampshire; independent investigations into such claims have determined them to be false. Miller refused to provide any evidence in support of his accusations.

On November 11, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump appointed Miller as Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy.

Source: Wikipedia.
Alayna Treene, “Trump expected to announce Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff for policy,” CNN, (November 11, 2024).

Photo: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.