Inside Stephen Miller’s Secret Plan to Normalize Trump’s Dictator Rule
What is remarkable, in a sense, is how badly this project failed. Despite months of effort, Trump and Miller did not come close to manufacturing the sense of fear or trauma in the country that they hoped for. But in the nascent Pritzker-Newsom understanding, assuming that all this will take care of itself — that voters will resist Trump-Miller Agitprop without incitement — is insufficient. We learned, warmly, that majorities seem to harbor a deep attachment to liberal rights and freedoms, which instinctively recoils at masked kidnappings, in hypermilitarized vehicles on urban boulevards, at exhibitions of totalitarian dictatorship. But it must be activated. It takes conflict and controversy – powerful images and language that relax the focus.
It’s not clear that many Democrats understand this. Some Democrats told reporters they see the issue as a “trap” luring them into a losing debate on crime. But why assume that voters will automatically believe Trump’s professions are actually about fighting crime? This throws in the towel, right up front, on communicating to voters what this debate is really about: that Trump’s abuses should be completely abhorrent to anyone who values life in a free society.
Do Democrats, in general, have a theory of this moment that is consciously paired with authoritarian MAGA politics? They need it. Because guess who has a theory right now? Miller does. And he’s amassing unprecedented power to put it into practice as we speak.
