Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words

Former Santa Monica Observer Intern #StephenMillerSTheTypeOfGuy

Remembered as a serious kid, Stephen Miller has been a principal speechwriter for the new President

Trash White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller if you must. I remember him as the kid who used to work for me.

In 2001, a santa monica high school student named Stephen Miller walked into my office at the Santa Monica Observer, and asked if he could write opinion pieces for the Santa Monica Observer. That kids name was Stephen Miller.

Even then, he was serious, cerebral, quiet and studied. It was hard for me to take him seriously, he was so serious. I mean, at 16, shouldn't you be thinking about baseball or girls, instead of Hegelian dialectic and critiquing "Common Core" educational policy?

Well that's what I thought at the time. Now I'm pretty much in the same place, and Stephen Miller is composing Donald Trump's inauguration speech. It's clear to us all that he was, and is, a genius.

Miller is more than simply a speechwriter for the 45th President. According to Politico, Miller will set the agenda for Trump's first 100 days in office. The choice of Miller, the 31-year-old who wrote most of Trump’s major prepared speeches in 2016, including his Republican National Convention address, which was criticized as overly dark, is no surprise to Trump insiders. Miller played an unusually multifaceted role on the campaign: a behind-the-scenes policy adviser, Trump’s chief speechwriter and a speech-giver himself, becoming a skinny-tie-wearing fixture over the summer at Trump rallies as a warm-up act.

“Steve’s a machine,” Jason Miller, a Trump aide, said of Miller’s prolific writing abilities (the two men aren't related). “I’ve literally seen him knock out three speeches in a day.”

Miller, who spent part of last week with Trump in Mar-a-Lago, has consulted people both on and off the campaign, including Trump’s incoming White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, as he puts together an initial draft of the speech.

Miller faces a tall task, as he races not only to plot out a historic speech, but also to develop Trump’s policy agenda for his first 100 days in the White House and hire staff to implement it. In addition to that, transition officials said Miller has been busy in recent weeks with Trump’s “thank you” tour, drafting remarks as the president-elect hopscotched to various states he carried in November before turning his attention to the inaugural.

Miller grew up in a liberal-leaning Jewish family in Santa Monica, (this from Wikipedia). Though his parents were Democrats, Miller became a conservative after reading National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre's Guns, Crime, and Freedom.

While attending santa monica high school, Miller began appearing on conservative talk radio. In 2002, at the age of sixteen, Miller wrote a letter to the editor of The Santa Monica Observer, in which he stated that "Osama Bin Laden would feel very welcome at Santa Monica High School."

In 2007, Miller received his bachelor's degree from Duke University, majoring in political science. Miller served as president of the Duke chapter of Students for Academic Freedom and wrote conservative columns for the school newspaper. Miller gained national attention for his defense of the lacrosse players in the Duke lacrosse case.

While attending Duke University, Miller accused the poet Maya Angelou of "racial paranoia" and described radical student organization MEChA as a "radical national Hispanic group that believes in racial superiority."

After graduating college, Miller worked as a press secretary for Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R) and Congressman John Shadegg (R). Miller started working for Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions in 2009, rising to the position of communications director.

In the 113th Congress, Miller played a major role in defeating the Gang of Eight's proposed immigration reform bill. Miller and Sessions developed what Miller describes as "nation-state populism," a response to globalization and immigration that would strongly influence Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. Miller also worked on Dave Brat's successful 2014 House campaign, which unseated Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

In January 2016, Miller joined Donald Trump's 2016 campaign for president, serving as a senior policy adviser. Starting in March 2016, Miller frequently spoke on behalf of the Trump campaign, serving as a "warm-up act" for Trump. Miller wrote the speech Trump gave at the 2016 Republican National Convention. In August 2016, Miller was named as the head of Trump's economic policy team.

In November 2016, he was named national policy director of Trump's transition team.

 

Reader Comments(0)