Trump replacing Wiles with Stephen Miller isn’t just about going to war with Democrats, insiders say

An hour before President Donald Trump announced the ouster of his longest-serving White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, in favor of longtime loyalist Stephen Miller, he posted to Truth Social an endorsement of Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters in the upcoming race to remain as the head of the RNC for the next two years.He said Gruters, the former Florida Republican Party boss who presided over what Governor Ron DeSantis called an “extension level event” as Democrats took both the House and Senate plus countless governors’ mansions and state legislatures, “should return as Chairman of the RNC to continue to build our Party, and be a trusted partner as we MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”The president’s understated endorsement of the man who, along with him, had overseen an electoral wipeout of historic proportion was overshadowed roughly 60 minutes later by his decision to promote Miller, a former Senate communications staffer whose career has been almost single-mindedly focused on reducing non-white immigration to America, to the role once held by legendary operators like James Baker, Leon Panetta, Dick Cheney and Ron Klain.It was a move seemingly designed to telegraph his intention to learn absolutely nothing from the epic ballot-box blowout he and his party had just suffered and to telegraph nothing except defiance in the face of an incoming Democratic Congress determined to reassert the legislative branch’s status as primus inter pares among the three branches of American government.That’s the view taken by some prominent Democrats, including California Rep. Robert Garcia, the incoming chairman of the House Oversight Committee.Newly announced White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller looks positively giddy as he walks with Trump aide Natalie Harp to board Marine One as President Donald Trump departs from the South Lawn of the White House on Friday (AFP/Getty)Garcia said in a statement that Miller’s appointment means Trump is “doubling down” on the hardline policies voters have now roundly rejected and noted that Miller has been the “architect of the unconstitutional ICE raids that have terrorized our communities and kidnapped and killed American citizens and immigrant families.”Incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer expressed a similar sentiment, writing on X that Trump has “learned nothing from his historic defeat.”Schumer also said Trump “couldn’t have made a worse choice” and vowed to “fight him every step of the way.”But Republicans on the inside aren’t so sure that Trump’s choice of Miller is the stuff of three-dimensional chess or some sort of grand strategy.Instead, multiple GOP sources told The Independent that the move is a sign of the president’s weakness in the face of his administration being humiliatingly rejected by the American electorate — and a desperation play to keep control of the remainder of his now-shattered political coalition.That’s because Trump must now confront a problem that has beguiled every second-term chief executive since Dwight Eisenhower entered office with the 22nd Amendment’s two-term limit imposed on him.America’s two-year election cycles mean a president in his last term will start to lose relevance as soon as the midterm elections are done because jockeying will inevitably begin for the next presidential primary cycle and the start of the race to succeed him. That’s not something Trump can handle, and insiders suggest his recent moves are meant to keep himself at the center of the GOP universe even at a time when a healthy political party would be making preparations to hand off their standard to the next man.President Donald Trump speaks to reporters Friday after announcing Miller will replace current White House chief of staff Susie Wiles as of Monday (AFP/Getty)Multiple GOP sources told The Independent that firing Wiles and replaceing her with Miller is a sign of the president’s weakness in the face of his administration being humiliatingly rejected by the American electorate — and a desperation play to keep control of the remainder of his now-shattered political coalition. (AFP/Getty)One veteran operative said in a text message that the double-barreled announcements regarding Gruters and Miller show Trump “doubling down” on keeping the iron grip he has had over the GOP for the last near-decade.“I think it’s about projecting control,” said the operative, who added that it appeared that Trump’s aim was to “hold whatever remains of the base” with performative trolling and MAGA crowd-pleasing stunts against immigrants and Democrats with Miller at the helm of the administration.“This isn’t about the future of the party — it’s about holding 20 percent of the party hostage,” they said.Another Republican strategist with significant ties to the MAGA universe declined to offer their own comments but pointed The Independent to a post on X by National Review writer Dan McLaughlin, who slammed Miller as “profoundly foolish & out of touch with political reality” and opined that Miller is the sort of person “you put in charge of a bunker.”People who have worked with Miller have described him as single-minded in his desire to rid America of as many non-white immigrants as possible dating back to his days as a high school-age caller into conservative radio shows from his parents’ California home.One oft-circulated story from his younger days noted that he became a pariah at his high school because he would throw trash on the floor and complain about having to use a garbage can because the school employed janitors who should have been picking up the trash that had been tossed carelessly. One longtime Senate and White House staffer who knew Miller when he was a top aide to Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions predicted absolute disaster, citing what he called Miller’s “utter lack of people skills” and perchance for “bullying.”“If you want a chief of staff who will inspire zero loyalty and do nothing but bring about bad outcomes by overreaching on a daily basis, I couldn’t think of a better person,” they said.