In an interview on Monday, CNN’s Boris Sanchez asked Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, whether Donald Trump intended to abide by federal judge Karin Immergut’s order blocking the deployment of the national guard in Oregon.
Miller said neither yes nor no. But the implication was no. The administration had already filed an appeal with the ninth circuit. He said: “I would note the administration won an identical case in the ninth circuit just a few months ago with respect to the federalizing of the California national guard.” Actually, it didn’t quite win. As I understand it (and lawyers, please correct me) the administration won a temporary stay on a temporary injunction against federalizing the California national guard in Los Angeles.
Then Miller continued: “Under Title 10 of the US Code, the president has plenary authority, has–”
There he abruptly stopped. The man whose entire head looks as if it’s covered by a stocking mask seemed to betray a feeling. Maybe regret, maybe embarrassment. Maybe: On shit, I just gave away the game.
Miller blinked several times. Sanchez called his name and asked if he could hear him. Miller did not respond. Then Sanchez apologized for technical difficulties and cut to a commercial break. When the interview came back on the air, the words plenary authority were not uttered. The clip CNN posted to the internet deleted that bit of the conversation, but it was widely posted and viewed anyway.
Plenary authority, or plenary power, means absolute, unlimited, and unchecked power. The power of a king. The power of Caesar, of Hitler, of Stalin.
Title 10 of the US Code, which covers the structure and laws of the military, refers little to the president, and most of that is about appointing secretaries and submitting a budget to Congress. There’s nothing in the code that remotely suggests absolute presidential power.
The constitution gives the president only one unchecked power: the power of the pardon. Even the Insurrection Act, under which a president can impose martial law and overstep other laws and judicial orders, is restricted by the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the use of the military for domestic law enforcement. Or so some commentators, sunnier than I, have reassured.
In short, the executive branch is supposed to be checked and balanced by the other two branches of government. That the other two branches of government don’t feel like checking or balancing at the moment does not give the president absolute power.
The meticulously lawyerly way in which Miller lied about the US Code is complemented by the vague, all-encompassing apocalyptic rhetoric with which he is preparing Maga for war against the domestic enemy.
“We are the storm,” he thundered at Charlie Kirk’s funeral, in a speech some listeners have compared to one the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels gave at a 1932 campaign rally. “Our enemies cannot comprehend our strength, our determination, our resolve, our passion. Our lineage and our legacy hails back to Athens, to Rome, to Philadelphia, to Monticello. Our ancestors built the cities. They produced the art and architecture. They built the industry,” he continued. “We stand for what is good, what is virtuous, and what is noble.”
And who are “our enemies”? They are both mighty – “the forces of darkness and evil” – and puny. Turning his address to “you”, the enemy, he went on: “You are nothing. You have nothing. You are wickedness, you are jealousy, you are envy, you are hatred. You are nothing! You can build nothing, you can produce nothing. You can create nothing.
“You have no idea the dragon you have awakened. You have no idea how determined we will be to save this civilization. To save the west, to save this republic.”
Miller referred to the future generations of “our children” and to the nothingness to which “you” will eventually come. Or rather, be delivered.
As Trump grows increasingly incoherent and emotionally labile, Miller grows more and more influential. He is the president’s brain, his discipline. Where Trump has no guiding principles, Miller is a resolute ideologue of white, western supremacy and a tactician of final solutions. Trump is easily lampooned, but Miller is the grimmest of reapers.
Timothy Snyder, the historian and author of the influential book On Tyranny, posted a video on his Substack, comparing Miller to Stalin. One thing he said is that Stalin gained power as Lenin’s health failed. Lenin’s leadership ran from 1917 to 1924, but he was incapacitated by strokes beginning in 1922. Stalin’s murderous reign lasted until 1953.
In Stephen Miller, we see that Maga will not simply end with Trump. We must keep our eyes on him, contest everything he does and says. Because – while this may be hard to fathom – if the US ends up with Miller as its dictator, we are in even deeper trouble than we are with Trump, and it could last a lot longer.
Judith Levine is Brooklyn-based journalist, essayist and author of five books. Her Substack is Today in Fascism
