A February 10, 2026, essay in The Nation portrays White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller as a key driver of President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda, particularly on immigration. The article cites polling suggesting Trump’s standing has weakened over his first year back in office and points to recent enforcement actions—including fatal shootings in Minneapolis—as flashpoints in the administration’s crackdown.
In a February 10 essay, The Nation describes White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller as “the power behind the throne” in President Donald Trump’s second administration, casting him as a central architect of the administration’s aggressive immigration posture. The magazine argues that Miller was not elected and that immigration was not the top issue motivating Trump’s 2024 voters, who it says were more focused on the cost of living.
The Nation’s piece links Miller to a series of high-profile enforcement and policy moves, including deployments of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel to U.S. cities and a push to end birthright citizenship. It also connects Miller to actions outside immigration, including the administration’s hardline approach abroad.
The essay cites two fatal encounters in Minneapolis as emblematic of the administration’s domestic enforcement approach. Renée Good, 37, was shot and killed on January 7, 2026, during an ICE operation; the Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruled her death a homicide caused by multiple gunshot wounds, and the incident has been the subject of public protests and competing accounts about what happened. Separately, Alex Pretti was killed on January 24, 2026, in Minneapolis during a confrontation involving federal immigration personnel; the shooting also drew national attention and renewed local demands for federal agents to leave the area.
On internal influence, The Nation notes that former Trump adviser Steve Bannon has referred to Miller as Trump’s “prime minister.” The magazine also points to a remark it attributes to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, reported by The Atlantic, that Miller “oversees every policy the administration touches.”
The Nation further argues that Trump’s public standing has deteriorated during his first year back in office, citing net-approval figures it attributes to Economist/YouGov polling and contending that inflation has remained elevated amid Trump’s tariff policy. Other polling has also shown erosion in Trump’s ratings, particularly on economic management, though results vary by poll and time period.
The essay quotes Miller in a CNN interview with Jake Tapper defending an assertive posture in the Western Hemisphere: “We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world—in the real world, Jake—that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”
While The Nation frames Miller’s guiding ideology in stark terms and cites influences such as the novel The Camp of the Saints, its broader portrait is of an unusually effective operator whose loyalty to Trump and command of internal power dynamics have helped him shape policy. The magazine contrasts Miller’s comparatively low public profile with the higher-visibility roles played by other prominent figures in the administration, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth.
