Crying, hissy fits ("I won't stand down! I won't stand down! I won't stand down! ).
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.... Since Trump could rarely comprehend the full substance of his own Administration’s agenda on immigration, it fell to Miller to define what victory looked like. One of the President’s favorite routines, according to someone close to both of them, is to play the good cop to Miller’s bad cop: “He’ll smile and say, ‘Well, that sounds O.K. to me but, Stephen, I know you’d never go for it.’ ” ....
In late fall, as Trump’s impeachment hearings began, Miller tried to limit his own public exposure. “He was getting a little too much steady attention, so he knew he had to hang back,” a top Administration official told me. Miller has survived the upheavals in Trump’s inner circle by representing himself as a member of the supporting cast. This strategy was reinforced by the demise of Steve Bannon, who, a few months before being fired, in August, 2017, appeared on the cover of Time, next to the headline “The Great Manipulator.” Sessions was forced out in November, 2018, after having recused himself from the Russia probe. Trump continued to mock him, often in front of Miller. According to someone who witnessed the exchanges, Miller never spoke up to defend his mentor. He was “part of the family now,” a White House official told me. ....
The e-mail scandal barely registered at the White House, where Miller faced a greater challenge. At Trump’s behest, Jared Kushner—who was already responsible for negotiating peace in the Middle East, overhauling international trade agreements, and leading the President’s reëlection campaign—has added immigration to his portfolio. “Stephen understands that Kushner is the real power,” a former White House official said. “He would never cross Kushner.” ....
...so far, Miller has coöperated with Kushner, writing the parts of it that address asylum and family detention. “Jared is the most powerful White House adviser, but he’s very busy,” a person who has worked closely with both Miller and Kushner told me. “Miller is focussed on one thing. He and Kushner make situational alliances. They both think the President needs the other, and they each believe in the other’s absolute loyalty to Trump. In all my time around them, I have never heard either one of them say a negative word about the other, and that’s not true of anyone else.” ....
This summer, months before the election, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether the Administration can cancel daca. “Everything—everything!—hinges on that decision,” a former senior D.H.S. official told me. If the Supreme Court ends daca, then “Miller will be in ecstasy. He’ll finally have the leverage over the Democratic Congress that he’s been dying to have this entire time. He’ll say, ‘Well, you’re all worried we’re going to deport them. What will you agree to?’ ” The official continued, “It’ll be the summer of a huge campaign, and Miller will be in his glory.”
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