Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

CousinIT

(9,245 posts)
Sun Jun 17, 2018, 07:27 PM Jun 2018

Stephen Miller Wants Credit for Breaking Up Families at the Border

https://www.gq.com/story/stephen-miller-wants-credit-families-border

One Trump adviser isn't running away from the president's decision to lock up children—he's celebrating it.

Donald Trump may want to blame the Democrats for his administrations decision to ramp up child detention at the Mexican border, but one of his underlings certainly doesn't. Adviser Stephen Miller has long had a reputation as one of the most anti-immigrant figures in Trump's White House (which is a high bar to clear) and in a new report out from the New York Times Miller explains that he helped push the president into the decision, and has no hesitation or second thoughts about a policy that has seen nearly 2000 children taken from their parents and put into detention centers in just six weeks.

The "zero tolerance" policy has been weighed by both the Bush and Obama administrations, but both presidents thought that locking up children was slightly more draconian than they were willing to be. In the account from the Times, reaction inside the White House to the policy is split, with some in the administration finding it "unfeasible in practice and questionable morally." Even Trump himself is apparently uncomfortable with the idea, which goes a long way to explaining why he so desperately wants people to hold someone else accountable for what is, again, his decision. Per the Times:

But Mr. Miller has expressed none of the president’s misgivings. “No nation can have the policy that whole classes of people are immune from immigration law or enforcement,” he said during an interview in his West Wing office this past week. “It was a simple decision by the administration to have a zero tolerance policy for illegal entry, period. The message is that no one is exempt from immigration law.”

It's no surprise that Miller has more resolve than his boss: Miller, a prime force behind the president's attempted Muslim ban, is an anti-immigrant ideologue while Trump has no discernible values beyond whatever he wants at any given moment. But what Trump wants is his wall, and the thousands of hostage children look to him like a way to get it.

While Trump is still insisting that his decision to take children from their families is actually the Democrats' fault, at least one Republican senator has undercut that message. On Sunday, Susan Collins of Maine came out against the policy, telling Face the Nation that she didn't support it but she also wouldn't back Democratic Senator Diane Fienstein's efforts to stop it. Because, you know, we can't stop locking up children without a wall first.
4 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Stephen Miller Wants Credit for Breaking Up Families at the Border (Original Post) CousinIT Jun 2018 OP
When the tables turn SHRED Jun 2018 #1
Really? ck4829 Jun 2018 #2
Vile scum. dalton99a Jun 2018 #3
I won't be complaining if he goes to prison. Solly Mack Jun 2018 #4

Solly Mack

(90,767 posts)
4. I won't be complaining if he goes to prison.
Mon Jun 18, 2018, 09:01 AM
Jun 2018

If he wants the "credit", so be it. Which isn't to say Trump is absolved, he isn't. Just as guilty.

A lot of abusers take pride in their "work".

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Stephen Miller Wants Cred...