Stephen Miller is one of President Trump's main advisors and one of his principal speechwriters. In her book "Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda" Jean Guerrero examines how this relatively young man has been able to become so powerful and the issues that motivate him.
Miller's conservative activism dates back to his school days. By the time Miller was in high school he was already very outspoken about subjects like immigration and he made numerous appearances on right wing talk radio when he still a teenager. The author shows how Miller has been able to ingratiate himself with President Trump and even more amazingly, how he has been able to survive in an administration that has had incredibly high staff turnover.
During the summer of 1988 Vice President George H.W. Bush found himself lagging far behind Michael Dukakis, the Democrat's presidential candidate, in the polls. Bush was hoping to succeed his former running mate Ronald Reagan in the White House. The Bush adviser Lee Atwater devised a very effective campaign strategy based on key issues and negative campaigning. By the time Dukakis realized that he needed to start fighting back it was far too late. Right now President Trump is struggling to ignite a reelection campaign that has been floundering due to a number of factors. If Donald Trump can reverse those trends by finding some divisive issues that can propel him to another term it will probably be largely due to the counsel of advisers like Stephen Miller. Can Miller duplicate Atwater's feat? We'll know the answer in a few months.
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