Stephen Miller reportedly gave a middle school friend a list of reasons why they couldn't be pals in high school, including that he was Latino


A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
President Trump's senior adviser, Stephen Miller, was "radicalized" long before ever jumping on Trump and Stephen Bannon's wagon, Miller's former high school and college classmates told Vanity Fair. "He has a dangerous mind and a dangerous way of thinking. He wants to shift what America is about," said Miller's former high school classmate, Nick Silverman.
But Miller's radical worldview — marked by being the lone defender of accused rapists on the Duke campus, or by calling America a "white county" that is "our creation … our inheritance, and it belongs to us" — started even before high school, one friend recalled:
As a youngster, Stephen was obsessed with Star Trek. He watched the show for hours. And he and his younger brother, Jacob, used to dress up in Captain Kirk uniforms. "He really liked this kind of macho alpha-male thing that was going on with Kirk," remembers Jason Islas, a friend of Miller's in middle school. "I think he was really attracted to that as a model for his own behavior."[…] When Miller celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at Beth Shir Shalom, Islas was a close enough friend to be invited. But Miller abruptly ended their friendship that summer, before they both went off to Santa Monica's huge, 3,400-student public high school. According to Islas, one day Miller telephoned him and told him he didn't want to be friends anymore. Not content to just let their interactions fade as they moved from one school to another, Miller wanted to make a point. "He gave me a whole list of reasons why we couldn't be friends and almost all of them were personal, but the one that stuck out was because of my Latino heritage," Islas recalls. "It was the one that wasn't directly personal. It was very strange." [Vanity Fair]
Silverman added that Miller hasn't changed much since he was a teenager.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"I can hear that kind of nationalistic, America-First American culture," he told Vanity Fair. "That's that same Stephen from junior year. He hasn't gone anywhere. That's still him." Read more about Miller's worldview and roots at Vanity Fair.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
Elix, part of Mar-Bella Collection review: a Greek beachside oasis
The Week Recommends This family-friendly resort offers access to a beautiful beach
By Kaye O'Doherty Published
-
The Indigenous referendum splitting the Australian public
The Explainer The referendum would form a federal body of Aboriginal people in Australia
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Who is Laphonza Butler, California's new senator and champion of labor?
Why Everyone's Talking About Butler has served as the president of pro-choice advocacy group EMILY's List
By Justin Klawans Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditions
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published