Donald Trump shrugs off midterms with Stephen Miller appointment

Donald Trump was not necessarily chastened by Republicans’ historic midterm election losses last week. The president on Friday elevated Stephen Miller, author of his administration’s most aggressive anti-immigration policies, to serve as his chief of staff. It’s an unmistakable sign that Trump is digging in for battle against the new Democratic Congress.

‘Double down on Trumpism’

Miller’s appointment is the “clearest signal” that Trump will spend the final years of his presidency reinforcing his “core beliefs” despite last week’s electoral rebuke, said The Wall Street Journal. Miller has been one of the president’s “most loyal advisers” since Trump’s first presidential campaign in 2016, known for his “hard-line approach to immigration.” But incoming Democrats have an “aggressive” agenda of their own and Miller “will have his hands full.”

The chief of staff can be expected to “double down on Trumpism,” said Mark Antonio Wright at the National Review, a tendency that is not always helpful to the president. Miller’s “overheated rhetoric” on immigration during last winter’s ICE raids in Minnesota “contributed to the steep decline in the popularity of strict immigration enforcement.” He is unlikely to be found “driving a course correction” to pursue “policies more in line with the public’s preferences.”

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Stephen Miller is “not what voters asked for,” said Erika D. Smith at Bloomberg. His rise is “likely to further infuriate” the U.S. public while making it more difficult for Republicans to reclaim power in 2028. If nothing else, it shows Trump has “learned nothing from the worst political shellacking in a half-century.”

‘Bunker mentality’

Miller has “unleashed billions of taxpayer dollars to brutalize and kill American citizens” via the administration’s mass deportation efforts, said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to ABC’s “This Week.” Democrats will not work with Miller and “what he represents.”

Trump’s “bunker mentality” has been exposed with Miller’s promotion, said Jacob Heilbrunn at The Spectator. There is no White House figure “more loathed among Democrats,” and choosing Miller could “accelerate the meltdown of his presidency,” if only because it reveals the president will do nothing to “placate an angry electorate.”