1. Stephen Miller is by far the most effective member of the Trump administration and has been the force behind many of its worst policies (Muslim ban, family separation, drawdown of refugee numbers). But he's also a surprisingly banal monster.
2. I mean compare Miller with Bannon (permanently disheveled, grandiose, loving to compare himself to Lenin or to cite obscure proto-fascists) or Gorka (the Dragon of Budapest) or Trump himself (a shifty reality show star). Miller is colorless, dull.
3. There's a temptation of many in the establishment (cough, cough Joe Biden cough) to see the whole Trump mess as an anomaly: a group of grifters and pirates hijacked the GOP & somehow won the presidency. Miller gives lie to this; he's a garden variety Republican.
4. I wouldn't deny that in policy terms Miller has largely been a failure (as Greg suggests here). But he's also completely integrated the nativist faction of the GOP into the larger party in a way that wasn't true as recently as 2015.
5. My larger thoughts on Miller as typical Republican here: thenation.com/article/stephe…
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