Under fire for his white nationalism, White House adviser Stephen Miller ran to Fox Business Network where host Trish Regan helped him play the victim, incite partisan and ethnic hatred – and declare Donald Trump a paragon of anti-racism.
In case you’ve missed it, 25 Jewish members of Congress have written to Donald Trump, calling for Miller to be fired after hundreds of his emails were recently leaked documenting his shockingly virulent white nationalism.
So where else would Miller go for rehab other than Trump TV? It says something about Miller’s toxicity that he appeared on Fox Business’ Trish Regan Primetime show, rather than, say, Tucker Carlson’s White Power Hour on Fox News prime time.
But what Regan may have lacked in ratings, she made up for in sycophancy.
Miller was incensed that anyone would call him a white nationalist. “Not only am I not anything of the sort,” he said, “but I find the accusation to be profoundly offensive and completely outrageous.”
Miller held himself up as a victim of bigotry, not a perpetrator. He called the white-nationalism accusation “an attempt by the Democratic party to attack and demonize a Jewish staffer.”
“Make no mistake, there is a deep vein of anti-Semitism that is running through today’s Democratic party,” Miller accused. He pointed a finger at Rep. Ilhan Omar, a regular Trump/Trump TV target, claiming she has “a very stained and sordid history of anti-Semitism.” He called anti-Semitism “one of the most significant problems facing the Democratic party today.”
Regan was full of sympathy for poor Miller. She said, “I think there’s probably nothing worse that you can say about someone and it’s the kind of thing where, you know, if you’re trying to defend yourself against that, it almost – um, it makes it worse because then the accusations keep flying.” Yet she didn’t mind that Miller was throwing around those same accusations against Democrats.
Regan dealt with the pesky fact that 25 Jewish (but also Democratic) members of Congress had called Miller a white nationalist by saying with disdain, “They want you gone.” She avoided discussing the substance of the emails – probably because they paint an irrefutable picture of white nationalism and asked, “What’s your response to that?”
Miller replied, “There’s nothing wrong with anything I said unless being proud to be an American and standing up for American citizens is a crime. To which today’s Democratic party, it is a crime.”
Regan nodded.
Then, two days after Trump smeared deceased Congressman and war veteran John Dingell, Miller had the nerve to whine, “The way that Democrats attack honest, decent patriotic Americans should offend every single citizen of this country.” He ranted that Democrats “want to create their pro-abortion, secular, irreligious, open-borders nation of socialism and communism.”
Regan didn’t challenge any of that poisonous and over-the-top rhetoric. Instead, she validated it by sneering, “There was a time – not that long ago – when [Democrats] actually believed it put Americans at an economic disadvantage to be bringing so many people in that maybe can’t support themselves.”
After the two attacked presidential candidate Sen Bernie Sanders for saying he wants a path to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S., Miller arrived at his craziest statements yet.
MILLER Let’s be very clear. Donald Trump is the president of inclusivity. He’s the president of making sure that every American of every background can succeed. Whether you’re talking about criminal justice reform, whether you’re talking about legislation that he passed to give record funding to historically black colleges and universities, whether you’re talking about record-low unemployment for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans. Whether you’re talking about the USMC trade deal, which won the support of labor unions. … All of the things the president is doing is about lifting up those who have the least and making sure we can have a society that’s for everyone.
Just cross your fingers you don’t need health insurance or food stamps.
Regan validated that nonsense, too. She claimed Trump is doing “pretty well with a lot of African American voters, better than 30%.” FACT CHECK: Trump has a 10% approval rating among African Americans, according to Gallup. Fox’s latest poll has him at a 24% approval rating.
Miller continued.
MILLER: Donald Trump is the anti-racist president and everyone who works underneath him are absolutely committed to the philosophy of everyone is equal in the eyes of God. And it’s also, frankly, it’s very hard to understand how the Democratic Party can attack this president when their party is the one that has neglected and betrayed and hurt and hammered, for example, our inner cities for decades, for decades! And they, frankly, care more today about helping illegal aliens and foreign citizens than their own constituents, including those who’ve been left behind.
Yesterday, I quoted ex-Republican national security expert Tom Nichols saying about Miller, “It says something terrible about us, as a country, that he still works in the White House.” Nichols called it “tragic."
It says something even worse that a national cable news host would help prop up Miller.
Watch the tragedy below, from the Fox Business Network’s December 20, 2019 Trish Regan Primetime.
This is a man who speaks with hatred about immigrants, who gleefully endorses vicious treatment of asylum seekers and who pursues the most hateful course possible, whenever possible. And this is a man who has been confirmed by those who have dealt with him and by his own written words to be a blatant racist.
The fact that Fox News is trying to normalize him is telling. The fact that Fox News thinks that going just a little short of Miller’s viciousness is okay, as in going just to the “Tucker Carlson” level, is also telling. This is part of a long-term strategy to move the center of debate in this nation WAY over to the Far Right.
In reality, both Carlson and Miller are extremists and both should be ashamed of themselves.
Reichsleiter Stephen Miller is caught dead to rights on the white nationalism charge with those emails. The first indication is when they were first released the White House pulled a classic Trump and skipped refuting the charges and merely raged over the leaking of the damning information. So I’m sure Reichsleiter Miller is “offended” they were released.
But the big thing that struck me is Reichsleiter Miller’s talk of Trump’s “inclusivity”. Yeah, like this infamous Trump MAGA “Civil War” tweet:
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-s-civil-war-tweet-whistleblower-attacks-are-designed-create-ncna1061011
Even though I get Fox Business I never watch it so I don’t really know Trish Regan that well other than the occasional clip that goes viral. But I wonder if this is the safest softball game in the Fox family? Mulvaney, for example, made the mistake of running to Fox’s Chris Wallace after he admitted to Trump’s quid pro quo and got humiliated. Even Tucker and Hannity – while being 100% sympathetic – likely would at least ask something about the substance of the emails (for the purpose of Miller’s re-explaining in a safe zone). I don’t see any indication Trish read them beyond her recognition they exist.
Maybe Regan’s show is a toe in the Fox waters to see if it’s safe for Reichsleiter Miller to go ‘swimming’ outside the White House gates.