Transcript: Trump Allies Shiv Stephen Miller as Midterm Panic Grows

Source: The New Republic · Bias: Left

Summary

The following is a lightly edited transcript of the March 30 episode of the Daily Blast podcast. Listen to it here.Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network. I’m your host, Greg Sargent.Stephen Miller suddenly seems to be in the crosshairs of a lot of leaks. In recent days, we’ve learned that Donald Trump has come to see mass deportations as a major political liability. Miller’s unhinged conduct internally may have also driven a top official into severe health problems. And Miller appears to be in a rage over lagging deportation numbers. So how is Miller’s overall project going right now? What’s coming next? We think the signs are mixed. It’s very plausible that Miller is not coming close to realizing his true designs. So we’re parsing through all this with one of our favorite Miller watchers, Chris Newman, counsel for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Chris, good to have you on.Chris Newman: It’s my pleasure. Thanks, Greg.Sargent: So Politico had this really striking report which says that the acting head of ICE, Todd Lyons, has been hospitalized at least twice due to stress-related episodes. Turns out a big culprit is Stephen Miller yelling at Lyons on private conference calls. Politico calls this the latest example of continued infighting over immigration policy. Chris, it looks like there’s trouble in fascist paradise, doesn’t it?Newman: Could you imagine having to do conference calls and Zooms with Stephen Miller on an ongoing basis and maintain your health and sanity? I couldn’t. And so it’s not surprising to hear that Lyons is buckling under the stress here. Anyone who’s watched television and watched Stephen Miller yell into Sean Hannity’s ear can see how stressful and grating just the sound of his voice is. And now imagine having to endure back and forth with him on a daily basis. I guess that’s what we’re seeing.Sargent: He’s really like those old newsreels of fascist leaders ranting at rallies, only he’s doing it right on Fox News. I absolutely agree that listening to him on a conference call berate the shit out of you like that would be as soul-destroying as anything you can imagine. Newman: And to have to report to him. And one of the things that we know from the first term, of course—on a serious note—is how effective he is at reaching into the bureaucracies across agencies and gaining control and wielding whatever power he’s been irrigating in the White House. And so he really does tend to torment people who are these kind of mid-level technocrats across agencies, and it is clearly abusive. There’s no question.I mean, people see that the guy is disturbed. Truly he’s disturbed. You can see people like Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham almost wanting to say, calm down, take a breath. And for him to vent and exercise whatever frustrations—or whatever ailment he has—in a workplace is truly torturous to even think about. And he reaches across all different agencies of the federal government.Sargent: Yes, his manipulation of the bureaucracy is a profound point that you raised there and I want to get back to it. It appears right now that a big source of Stephen Miller’s anger is deportations. Politico reports that Miller yelled at Lyons over low deportation numbers and other tactical matters, forcing Lyons to apologize for failing to meet Miller’s expectations.Some people inside are disputing that—they’re saying that Miller is merely passionate, not abusive. But you know what, Chris, I’m going to put my money on abusive. Miller and Trump wanted to deport one million people a year, but by a number of different estimates, they clearly fell far short of that number, maybe hitting around 200,000 or 300,000 or thereabouts. Very plainly Miller is not happy about that. Chris, you’re on the front lines of these deportations. What’s your general sense of how close he’s coming to his targets?Newman: Well, first, let me say that I’m with you. I tend to try to avoid all the palace intrigue drama, because one of the things that Trump has done is turned our government into a reality TV show. And so I would like to not have to pay attention to the latest rumors from within the White House. But there are ginormous material consequences to the way in which these lunatics wield their power. And I actually think that we do need to pay close attention. And I’ll share with you, by the way, a lesson where I kind of learned this.People might not remember, but there’s a publication called The Washington Examiner. Last year they reported, as well, a kind of palace intrigue story of Stephen Miller yelling at the top of his lungs, saying the deportation numbers were too low—why are we not sending people to Home Depots to go after day laborers, who are the people that I represent and have represented for 20 years. And so I was asked about my opinions about it.

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Transcript: Trump Allies Shiv Stephen Miller as Midterm Panic Grows
The New Republic

Transcript: Trump Allies Shiv Stephen Miller as Midterm Panic Grows

Left

The following is a lightly edited transcript of the March 30 episode of the Daily Blast podcast. Listen to it here.Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network. I’m your host, Greg Sargent.Stephen Miller suddenly seems to be in the crosshairs of a lot of leaks. In recent days, we’ve learned that Donald Trump has come to see mass deportations as a major political liability. Miller’s unhinged conduct internally may have also driven a top official into severe health problems. And Miller appears to be in a rage over lagging deportation numbers. So how is Miller’s overall project going right now? What’s coming next? We think the signs are mixed. It’s very plausible that Miller is not coming close to realizing his true designs. So we’re parsing through all this with one of our favorite Miller watchers, Chris Newman, counsel for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. Chris, good to have you on.Chris Newman: It’s my pleasure. Thanks, Greg.Sargent: So Politico had this really striking report which says that the acting head of ICE, Todd Lyons, has been hospitalized at least twice due to stress-related episodes. Turns out a big culprit is Stephen Miller yelling at Lyons on private conference calls. Politico calls this the latest example of continued infighting over immigration policy. Chris, it looks like there’s trouble in fascist paradise, doesn’t it?Newman: Could you imagine having to do conference calls and Zooms with Stephen Miller on an ongoing basis and maintain your health and sanity? I couldn’t. And so it’s not surprising to hear that Lyons is buckling under the stress here. Anyone who’s watched television and watched Stephen Miller yell into Sean Hannity’s ear can see how stressful and grating just the sound of his voice is. And now imagine having to endure back and forth with him on a daily basis. I guess that’s what we’re seeing.Sargent: He’s really like those old newsreels of fascist leaders ranting at rallies, only he’s doing it right on Fox News. I absolutely agree that listening to him on a conference call berate the shit out of you like that would be as soul-destroying as anything you can imagine. Newman: And to have to report to him. And one of the things that we know from the first term, of course—on a serious note—is how effective he is at reaching into the bureaucracies across agencies and gaining control and wielding whatever power he’s been irrigating in the White House. And so he really does tend to torment people who are these kind of mid-level technocrats across agencies, and it is clearly abusive. There’s no question.I mean, people see that the guy is disturbed. Truly he’s disturbed. You can see people like Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham almost wanting to say, calm down, take a breath. And for him to vent and exercise whatever frustrations—or whatever ailment he has—in a workplace is truly torturous to even think about. And he reaches across all different agencies of the federal government.Sargent: Yes, his manipulation of the bureaucracy is a profound point that you raised there and I want to get back to it. It appears right now that a big source of Stephen Miller’s anger is deportations. Politico reports that Miller yelled at Lyons over low deportation numbers and other tactical matters, forcing Lyons to apologize for failing to meet Miller’s expectations.Some people inside are disputing that—they’re saying that Miller is merely passionate, not abusive. But you know what, Chris, I’m going to put my money on abusive. Miller and Trump wanted to deport one million people a year, but by a number of different estimates, they clearly fell far short of that number, maybe hitting around 200,000 or 300,000 or thereabouts. Very plainly Miller is not happy about that. Chris, you’re on the front lines of these deportations. What’s your general sense of how close he’s coming to his targets?Newman: Well, first, let me say that I’m with you. I tend to try to avoid all the palace intrigue drama, because one of the things that Trump has done is turned our government into a reality TV show. And so I would like to not have to pay attention to the latest rumors from within the White House. But there are ginormous material consequences to the way in which these lunatics wield their power. And I actually think that we do need to pay close attention. And I’ll share with you, by the way, a lesson where I kind of learned this.People might not remember, but there’s a publication called The Washington Examiner. Last year they reported, as well, a kind of palace intrigue story of Stephen Miller yelling at the top of his lungs, saying the deportation numbers were too low—why are we not sending people to Home Depots to go after day laborers, who are the people that I represent and have represented for 20 years. And so I was asked about my opinions about it.

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