Associates see an early test in Trump’s desire to punish perceived political enemies
Stephen Miller’s White House purview has expanded greatly in President Trump’s second term, The Wall Street Journal reported in a profile of the new chief of staff. Though Miller was influential during Trump’s first term, he now oversees policy rollouts on the president’s trade war and the targeting of elite universities, and he spearheaded what the Journal called the Pentagon’s unprecedented campaign of striking alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean, killing many on board. Miller has personally drafted or edited nearly every executive order Trump has signed and has faced little opposition from administration officials to his work reshaping immigration policy, according to the Journal.
Some posts at cabinet agencies have been described by administration officials as reporting directly to Miller, effectively bypassing cabinet secretaries. In recent weeks, Miller has worked closely with White House budget chief Russ Vought to chart a second-term agenda with an emphasis on executive actions that do not require congressional approval, administration officials told the Journal, and he has played a central role in planning the White House’s response to congressional investigations, the officials said. Miller has long advocated a confrontational response to the wave of investigations the newly ascendant Democrats are expected to launch, even as Trump sent early signals in the days after the election that he would work with them, according to the Journal.
Miller hosts a daily 10 a.m. phone call with officials at agencies across the government to solicit new ideas to further the administration’s immigration enforcement campaign. This week, he continued to lead those calls as usual, never acknowledging the election results or any need to change course, according to people familiar with the matter. His demeanor has alarmed some officials at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who fear the country’s shift toward Democrats means their jobs will only grow more dangerous, the people told the Journal.
An early test for Miller, according to associates of the president, is whether he can satisfy Trump’s desire to punish his perceived political enemies. One of Trump’s biggest frustrations with Susie Wiles, the chief of staff he is replacing, was that she and the Justice Department were not doing enough to go after people seen as leaking classified material, to jail reporters who publish such material and to prosecute his opponents, according to administration officials.
Miller, 41, was the architect of the immigration enforcement policies that, according to polls, turned off many voters and contributed to the Republicans’ historic losses on Tuesday. His elevation, the Journal reported, signals a combative posture for the final two years of the Trump era and shows the president has no intention of backing away from the immigration agenda on which he built his political brand. Miller is expected to push a maximalist approach to executive power.
The president, aware of polls showing that much of his immigration agenda is not popular, has told advisers he was not comfortable with how far Miller has gone on some fronts, according to people who have spoken with Trump. Trump has also heard complaints from business leaders about workers being thrown out of the country. One high-profile policy Miller spearheaded — forcing most green-card hopefuls to leave the country to apply for permanent residence — was quickly reversed by the White House after intense pushback from Silicon Valley executives.
Miller is known to keep long hours in the White House, colleagues say, and often calls deep into government agencies to issue edicts. Several staffers said he knew far more about the details of certain agencies than Wiles and often used that to outmaneuver others. He is deeply involved in shaping his public image, working closely with the White House press office, people familiar with the dynamics say.
Miller has also become a central focus of socializing in Trump’s orbit. His wife, Katie Miller, a former Trump White House staffer, regularly throws parties and dinners at their residence on a military base, attracting cabinet and White House officials. The Millers live near Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and they socialize with him and his wife, Jennifer Hegseth, a former Fox News producer, according to people familiar with the matter. Miller has forged tight relationships with leading administration figures, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio; less is known about his relations with Vice President JD Vance.
Miller has asserted his influence over the FBI as well, making at least one unusual appearance at the bureau’s headquarters to stress to agents the importance of the administration’s priority of cracking down on threats of political violence from the left, people familiar with the meeting said. He told agents nothing should stand in their way of investigating threats to public officials, referencing his own personal experiences.
Miller has also been at the center of contentious issues between the White House and the nation’s biggest banks, pushing for the government to take a hard-line stance in the administration’s probes into allegations that the firms improperly shut off accounts for political and religious reasons, according to people familiar with the matter.
Despite views the Journal described as often zealous, the president has come to value Miller above all for his unwavering loyalty. Miller stood by Trump even at his lowest moments, including after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. He opposed both of Trump’s picks for Homeland Security secretary — Kristi Noem, and then Markwayne Mullin — but offered full-throated support for each, in public and in private, once Trump made up his mind, according to people familiar with the matter.
Though Miller has at times pushed for a muscular foreign policy, particularly in South America, people familiar with the discussions said he has suggested winding down the deeply unpopular war in Iran and called for refocusing on policies like immigration that made Trump popular with his base.
Last year, Miller shut down discussion about whether the United States should bomb Houthi targets in Yemen in a Signal chat that was accidentally shared with a magazine editor. As the vice president and top national security officials discussed options, Miller weighed in. “As I heard it, the president was clear,” Miller said in the exchange. “Green light,” he added.
Trump himself has at times seen Miller as overly aggressive. Miller has been hawkish on violent crime, at times personally leading meetings with local police officials in Washington. “I would love to have him come up and explain his true feelings,” Trump said of Miller at an October 2025 Oval Office press conference about cracking down on crime. “Maybe not his truest feelings—that might be going a little bit too far.” The room broke out in laughter.
Numerous people had been floated to succeed Wiles, including political allies Bill Pulte, Sergio Gor and Jay Clayton, people familiar with the matter told the Journal. Miller won out on the argument that he has been through countless battles with Trump and is the kind of consigliere needed for the final two years of the administration. He also stood out as a believer in Trump’s trade agenda, unlike some other presidential advisers who saw tariffs as helping fuel the cost-of-living concerns that dominated the election. Katie Miller encouraged people to promote her husband for the job, people familiar with the matter said, and a person familiar with the matter said Miller also wanted to see a focus on the Make America Healthy Again agenda championed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Unlike Wiles, who had grown frustrated with Hegseth, Miller would be more supportive of the defense secretary, the person added.
The choice drew criticism from some in Washington, including people supportive of Trump, who saw it as a mistake that misreads the mood of the country. Rep. Marlin Stutzman, Republican of Indiana, called the promotion a “horrible idea.” Miller has told associates he plans to try to limit the influence of lobbyists on the administration.
Trump announced Miller’s appointment on his Truth Social platform on Friday, not long after Steve Bannon publicly called for Wiles to be removed. “He’s going to do a great job,” Trump told reporters after arriving at an event in Florida. Miller, when contacted Friday, directed questions to the White House. The Journal described Miller as a fierce political operative who has been at Trump’s side for more than a decade and one of the president’s most loyal and divisive advisers — a vocal advocate of the no-holds-barred style of governing that delighted Trump’s most die-hard MAGA supporters and was repudiated by much of the rest of the country on Election Day. The choice, the Journal reported, followed a brutal election that gutted Republican power in Washington.
Wiles, whom the Journal described as a moderating force on a sometimes impulsive president, was Trump’s 2024 co-campaign manager and lasted longer than any of Trump’s first-term chiefs of staff — Trump went through four in four years. She was an instrumental force in his return to power following his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden. Tensions between the president and his chief of staff erupted earlier this week: Trump yelled at Wiles in front of others on election night, according to people familiar with the matter. As late as Wednesday evening, Wiles’s supporters were saying she would not be ousted; by Thursday night, her allies were calling members of Congress, asking them to reach out to Trump and make supportive comments about her, according to a person with knowledge of the calls.
Wiles and other advisers had told Trump up until last weekend that Republicans could keep control of the Senate, and some faulted her for not setting better expectations. She had also surrounded herself with close allies from Florida, including James Blair, a young political operative who gained Trump’s admiration only to draw the president’s wrath after the midterm drubbing. Trump has complained about Blair in recent weeks, and Blair is not expected to have a formal role in Trump’s orbit going forward, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.
Wiles, whom Trump nicknamed the “Ice Maiden,” had also come under attack from the party’s most conservative forces, who saw her as holding the president back. On Friday, podcaster Joe Rogan published an interview with Calley Means, a top ally of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Means, who left his position in the administration last month, was critical of Wiles, saying she bent the White House to corporate interests and had a “stranglehold on any policy decision.” A White House official said Wiles had been an essential leader in making America healthy again.