In wondering what led to the ouster of Homeland Security head Kristjen Nielsen on Sunday, numerous outlets saw the hand of Stephen Miller, the Trump White House’s hardliner on immigration.
And in response, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) tweeted what a lot of people have said about Miller. That he’s a white nationalist.
Stephen Miller is a white nationalist. The fact that he still has influence on policy and political appointments is an outrage. https://t.co/7NyMDgojd7
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 8, 2019
Miller has severely restrictive views on immigration and pushed policies that echo the feelings and desires of leading white nationalists, arguing for restrictive quotas on immigration while ramping up deportations.
But if you support Miller and his policies, which a number of conservatives do, calling him a “white nationalist” is an affront to both him and you.
So you have two options if you’re in that situation. Use Miller’s own policies and rhetoric to prove the claim is false. Or simply say he can’t be one because he’s Jewish.
I see that the head of the Farrakhan Fan Club, @IlhanMN, took a short break from spewing her usual anti-semitic bigotry today to accuse a Jewish man of being a “white nationalist” because she apparently has no shame. https://t.co/y96IG8E7Y6
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) April 8, 2019
Steve Miller is a Jew. An American Jew. A patriot. Not a "white nationalist."
— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) April 8, 2019
I don't believe you should be calling a Jew anything, Ms. Omar. https://t.co/3WPaL2U2R6
https://twitter.com/AdamTrahan/status/1115365604121358336
Stephen Miller is Jewish, you idiot https://t.co/v7Qpy8zscQ
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) April 8, 2019
https://twitter.com/Robbytheman777/status/1115401868136648707
An anti-Semite labeling a Jewish person a "white nationalist" is peak Leftism. https://t.co/45WQfxdRaQ
— Erielle Azerrad (@politicalelle) April 8, 2019
That logic doesn’t really hold up. Just being Jewish doesn’t mean you can’t be a white nationalist. Miller hasn’t spoken about his faith, or his ethnicity, in a way that would show he’s somehow immune to white nationalist views or that they are anathema to him.
Numerous Jewish people have spoken out against his policies and did so again today. Other people just pointed to Trump’s immigration policy on our Southern border, which Miller is the architect of. If his faith has factored into it, it isn’t apparent to a lot of people.
Hi, rabbi here.
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) April 9, 2019
Stephen Miller is a white nationalist.
for sure, the guy orchestrating the migrant child torture camps in service of creating a white ethnostate couldn't possibly be a white nationalist pic.twitter.com/PLvHvEJMFX
— Rob (@robrousseau) April 8, 2019
However, Miller certainly is anti-immigration with a bias that tends to be applied toward Black and Brown people. He was once quoted in former Trump adviser Cliff Sims’ book saying, “I would be happy if not a single refugee foot ever again touched American soil.”
Not to mention, his words echo the sentiments of his boss, who once claimed he preferred immigrants from white nations.