With Stephen Miller pick, Trump readies for a battle

Miller is best known for being the driving force behind the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement policies, which has included ramping up funding for enforcement operations across the US.

He made headlines when he called Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal immigration officials during a massive deportation operation in Minneapolis, a “domestic terrorist” and an “assassin”. He would later walk back those words, saying federal agents “may not have been following” proper protocol.

He has also reportedly played a leading role in the US military operations in Venezuela and against suspected drug trafficking operations in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, which critics have condemned as extra-judicial killings.

Miller joined Trump’s political operation early in his 2016 presidential bid as a strategist and incendiary warm-up speaker at his raucous campaign rallies.

He was one of the few senior White House staffers to persevere through the entirety of his first term. He stayed loyal to Trump during his political exile following attempts to overturn his ballot-box defeat in 2000 failed. He then returned in the influential role of deputy chief of staff for policy in Trump’s second term.

Wiles, who co-managed the president’s successful 2024 re-election campaign, developed a reputation as a cool professional who avoided the White House staffing upheavals, dramatic policy reversals and personality clashes that typified Trump’s first presidential term.

The president, however, began souring on Wiles in recent months, as his political standing in the US declined, culminating in Tuesday’s electoral rout. He also reportedly chaffed at news stories indicating that those in Wiles’ orbit were landing lucrative consulting jobs through their connections to the president.