Republican Informer - The Wall Street Journal reported that Melania Trump complained to her husband after learning that people she knew personally had been deported. According to the account, summarized by multiple outlets on November 5, 2026, President Trump then told aides that Miller’s deportation push had gone “too far.” The report does not name the acquaintances or say when the conversation took place.
Why it matters: Miller, who starts Monday as the new White House chief of staff, is unlike any of his five predecessors who have held the job during Trump's two terms — and unlike anyone who has held the powerful position in the modern era. Miller puts the hard in hard-liner, and understands how to pull the levers of power to get his way and make the U.S. government a MAGA machine.
Miller's appointment sets the stage for two years of partisan warfare with the new Dem-led Congress, which is likely to launch investigations of Trump's administration, political committees and allies.
.... Despite his post-midterm comments about finding ways to work with Democrats, Trump's choice of Miller signals that the president isn't looking for truces. He's prepping for war, and sees Miller as a brass-knuckle general and tactical expert impervious to criticism or traditional restraints.
The 41-year-old Miller — Trump's MAGA brain for a decade — has detailed his Miller Doctrine in speeches, policies and press conferences:
Presidential power is "very substantial and will not be questioned." Miller said those words about Trump's Muslim travel ban in 2017 on CBS' "Face the Nation." But to him, they broadly apply to other areas of the executive's authority.Court authority is limited. In May 2025, when courts blocked aspects of Trump's deportation policies, Miller said the rulings were the work of "radical rogue judges" who were "at war" with the executive and legislative branches.The political opposition is a threat to America. "The Democrat Party is not a political party. It is a domestic extremist organization," Miller told Sean Hannity in August 2025. Miller also warned that if Democrats won Congress, "it's game over." They just won it.Homeland security is the nation's spine. A key architect of the administration's hard-line immigration policies, Miller said in a March speech: "Our national security, our homeland security, the safety and well-being of our people begins at home, begins in our neighborhood, begins in our home region."America should use "hard power" in the Western Hemisphere. "The cartels that operate in this hemisphere are the ISIS and the al-Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere, and should be treated just as brutally and just as ruthlessly as we treat those organizations," Miller said in the same speech, to foreign leaders at the Shield of the Americas conference.Between the lines: Trump advisers see Miller's elevation as a way to reenergize the president's populist base, which failed to turn out in sufficient numbers for the midterms — and in some cases voted for Democrats.Advisers point to Trump's handling of the Epstein files and his decision to attack Iran — which in turn escalated fuel prices — as reasons he lost support among those voters.
Without winning them back, Republicans say, they'll have no chance in the 2028 elections.
.... With Trump's legislative agenda effectively stalled, Miller's allies argue he is particularly well suited to a White House that will increasingly rely on executive orders and legal battles — areas in which Miller has extensive experience.
But some critics worry that Miller's elevation could mean Trump turns Miller's hard-line immigration agenda into a centerpiece of his final two years in office — something that could continue to alienate independent and moderate voters, as it appeared to do in the midterms.
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