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In Elevating Stephen Miller, Trump Doubles Down on Hard-Line Agenda
In
Elevating Stephen Miller, Trump Doubles Down on Hard-Line Agenda
The new
White House chief of staff is responsible for some of the most provocative
policies of President Trump’s second term, as well as an aggressive approach to
executive power.
As President
Trump’s domestic policy adviser, Mr. Miller has been one of the most deeply
ideological members of the White House, and known for flexing his
power.Credit...Alex Kent/The New York Times
By Maggie HabermanJonathan Swan and Tyler Pager
Nov. 6, 2026
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/06/us/politics/susie-wiles-chief-of-staff-trump.html
In the
initial days after the staggering rebuke Republicans suffered in Tuesday’s
midterm elections, President Trump appeared subdued — almost conciliatory.
He said he
would work with Democrats, claiming as he has over the years that he could
forge a deal with them on immigration, perhaps the most polarizing domestic
issue of his second term.
But near the
week’s end, instead of ceding to the clear evidence of voter displeasure, Mr.
Trump pivoted to a familiar move: more MAGA.
On Friday,
the president ousted his onetime close adviser, Susie Wiles, from the role of
White House chief of staff, replacing her with Stephen Miller, his deputy chief
of staff. More than any other top adviser, Mr. Miller encouraged an aggressive
flexing of executive power when Mr. Trump returned to office.
Mr. Miller
has been the driver of the president’s most muscular actions, including the use
of increasingly hostile tactics to capture immigrants across the country and
the bombing of small boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean
that he and Mr. Trump declared constituted a foreign invasion.
The
president’s choice sent a clear signal about the posture he intends to strike
in his final two years in office and how little he intends to alter his
approach in response to the most
decisive political rout in half a century. He also put on center stage a
figure who had already been a galvanizing target for Democrats intent on using
their new powers in Congress to check the administration.
In a social
media post, Mr. Miller praised Mr. Trump as “the most transformative political
leader” in U.S. history, saying that he had “single-handedly saved America from
those who would destroy it.”
“The mission
now is more clear than ever: Fight with all of our soul to support our
president and defend this magnificent Republic,” he added.
People close
to Mr. Miller said he had shown no interest in compromising with congressional
Democrats and was ready for a fight over subpoenas and investigations that are
expected to emanate from the Hill. His top priority, they said, is rebuilding
the fractured MAGA coalition and pursuing policies that will energize the
voters who elected Mr. Trump in 2024.
“Stephen is
and always has been the eternal flame of the MAGA movement — putting the
president’s words and policy into action,” Hunter Morgen, who worked as a
deputy to Mr. Miller during the president’s first term and is now a lobbyist at
Ballard Partners, wrote in a text message.
While Ms.
Wiles made clear she did not consider her job to be protecting the country from
the president, as some of his first-term senior aides did, Mr. Miller is far
more willing than she ever was to push legal boundaries.
He knows how
the levers of government function. He is one of two top West Wing staff members
who were part of the first administration when the House majority flipped in
2018, prompting a blitz of subpoenas from Congress.
Mr. Miller
spent the years between Mr. Trump’s two terms recruiting a team that would help
him put in place a sweeping agenda once back in power. Today, he has allies
among the lawyers in key agencies across the executive branch, as well as a
running dialogue with Attorney General Todd Blanche and Defense Secretary Pete
Hegseth.
Mr. Hegseth
celebrated Mr. Miller’s promotion with several posts on social media. “Huge
CONGRATS,” he wrote, calling Mr. Miller “a true patriot and America First
fighter.” He followed that with a post that declared: “Patriots in control,”
and a subsequent one that included a picture of himself and Mr. Miller.
Still, Mr.
Miller’s allies have indicated that he understands the Iran war has been a
political disaster, and believes the president needs to get back to policies
that are popular with the MAGA base.
While Ms.
Wiles may be staying in Mr. Trump’s orbit by moving to the president’s outside
political operation in a still undefined role, her departure and the ascent of
Mr. Miller will fundamentally shift the circle of advisers around the president
as the White House absorbs the shock of the midterm elections.
“I wanted to
make a change,” Mr. Trump told reporters as he departed the White House for a
trip to Florida. Ms. Wiles did a “great job,” he said, but added: “Sometimes in
life, you have to make moves.”
Asked what
he wanted Mr. Miller to do differently than Ms. Wiles, who he had previously
claimed wasn’t going anywhere, the president said, “Just run things well.”
Image
Ms. Wiles,
the first woman to hold the top staff job in the West Wing, played a central
role in President Trump’s return to power.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York
Times
Mr. Trump,
in his private conversations as well as his public remarks, has not accepted
blame for the election results.
Instead, he
repeatedly blasted Ms. Wiles and his other political advisers, insisting he was
poorly served in the lead-up to the midterms. He criticized Ms. Wiles in front
of several people at an East Room election watch party Tuesday night, according
to people with knowledge of the incident, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity to describe internal conversations.
Mr. Trump
has also been privately critical of James Blair, Ms. Wiles’s ally, who ran the
president’s outside political operation, people with knowledge of the comments
said.
Mr. Trump
publicly expressed his confidence in Ms. Wiles in recent months. But behind the
scenes, there were signs that her standing with the president was shaky,
according to officials with knowledge of the dynamics.
He has
berated Ms. Wiles in front of other staff members about his frustrations that
his administration has not moved faster to find people he brands as “leakers,”
as well as the stalled prosecutions of his perceived political enemies, they
said. In front of several advisers, he would accuse her of being among the
leakers.
Mr. Trump
began cutting Ms. Wiles out of hiring decisions, including when he chose
an inexperienced television pundit to replace the departing press
secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
Allies of
Ms. Wiles described her as prepared to leave her role, and uninterested in
fighting to stay in it. Her supporters saw the criticism of her as an effort to
assign blame for a political and policy strategy largely driven by Mr. Trump
himself. And they faulted her detractors inside and outside the administration
for spreading information meant to undercut her with Mr. Trump, including
stories about her
daughter’s lobbying work.
In her own
statement posted on social media, Ms. Wiles described working for Mr. Trump in
the White House as the “honor of a lifetime.”
“While my
role may be changing, my commitment to the President and the mission never
will,” she added.
Ms. Wiles,
the first
woman to hold the top staff job in the West Wing, helped steer Mr. Trump to
his election victory in 2024, playing a
central role in his return to power four years after his loss to Joseph R.
Biden Jr.
She was diagnosed
with breast cancer in early 2026. Ms. Wiles stayed in her role as she
started treatment and recently announced that she was cancer
free.
Ms. Wiles
came into the job having established a rapport with Mr. Trump and a level of
trust that none of his four first-term chiefs of staff had enjoyed.
She tried to
influence his decisions on core issues including his immigration crackdown,
even if only on the margins, according to people with knowledge of her role.
She pushed for the appointments of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury
Secretary Scott Bessent, and both have been seen by many outside the government
as stabilizing figures.
But Mr.
Trump has relied primarily on his own instincts this term, and few advisers
have engaged him in the kind of direct confrontations over policy that
characterized his first administration.
Maggie Haberman is
a White House correspondent for The Times, reporting on President Trump.
Jonathan Swan is a
White House reporter for The Times, covering the administration of Donald J.
Trump. Contact him securely on Signal: @jonathan.941
Tyler Pager is a White
House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his
administration.
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