Stephen Miller, Donald Trump’s senior policy adviser, is reportedly being considered to take over the position of White House communications director, following in the footsteps of Anthony Scaramucci.
The news that Miller might claim the top comms job has renewed some social media interest in his history, his right-wing political views, and his rhetorical style, spoken to by a particularly infamous remark he made during a speech to his Santa Monica high school classmates.
The moment, reportedly preserved thanks to a student documentary, is one of the few clips from the now-infamous speech that’s available to the public. In it, a teenaged Miller, still with a head full of black hair, complains that students shouldn’t have to clean up after themselves when there are janitors around.
Vid: "sick & tired of being told to pick up my trash when we have plenty of janitors who are paid to do it for us" Trump Adv Stephen Miller pic.twitter.com/cpoSGAdOGv
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) August 5, 2017
According to the Washington Post, Santa Monica High School can’t find a full video of the speech, which ended with Miller being escorted off the stage to a cacophony of boos. The bits of and pieces of Miller’s now-infamous speech, reflective of his reported history as a fire-breathing high school conservative, has resurfaced amid his potential ascent to the top of the White House’s communications wing.
Video: Trump Adviser Stephen Miller being escorted off stage after saying his offensive comment about janitors-it made my day. #FireMiller pic.twitter.com/5aKrC2A2Ct
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) August 6, 2017
In February, professional baseball player Cody Decker―a Santa Monica High School alumni― tweeted that Miller has been “boo’d off a stage by more than 4,000 students,” also noting that he himself was one of them.
At Santa Monica High School, while running for class pres Stephen Miller was boo'd off a stage by over 4000 students. I was one of them!
— Cody Decker (@Decker6) February 13, 2017
Sitcom pitch: Martin Shkreli and Stephen Miller in a prison cell together
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) August 4, 2017
Video: Trump Adviser Stephen Miller gets pushed away from microphone by a woman half his size after making offensive comments. #FireMiller pic.twitter.com/PP3x0dqLbo
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) August 6, 2017
Stephen Miller makes Ted Cruz seem likable. Miller has been a lifelong jerk. https://t.co/9B2EsQ5XnK
— Russell Drew (@RussOnPolitics) August 6, 2017
I bet when Stephen Miller found out he might be communications director he went home and told all his jars.
— albertina rizzo (@albz) August 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/MMASOCCERFAN/status/894226475385335809
The news of Miller’s possible promotion comes the same week as his starring turn in the White House press briefing room when he got into a combative and at-times outright angry exchange with CNN’s Jim Acosta. In the midst of his argument with Acosta, Miller argued that the famed Emma Lazarus poem, “The New Colossus,” that’s inscribed inside the Statue of Liberty was “added later,” more than a dozen years after the iconic statue was opened to the public.
Perhaps because Stephen Miller is a white supremacist. https://t.co/c16J1gX4IH
— Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) August 5, 2017
As some have noted, discrediting the poem, which speaks of welcoming the “poor” and the “huddled masses” into the United States, is an occasional pastime on some white supremacist message boards, eager to discredit the poem’s relevance in American history. Miller’s performance was sharply criticized and condemned by progressives, although it earned Miller praise among Trump supporters and the online far-right.