President-elect Donald Trump is expected to announce the appointment of former policy adviser and America First Legal president Stephen Miller as White House deputy chief of staff for policy. Vice President-elect JD Vance confirmed this announcement.

This is another fantastic pick by the president. Congrats @StephenM! https://t.co/2kQCmbcRy3

— JD Vance (@JDVance) November 11, 2024

Miller was a lightning rod for immigration policy in the Trump 1.0 White House and was involved in just about every major action, starting with the "Muslim ban." He earned the distinction of having the Southern Poverty Law Center label him an extremist. That honor did not have the desired effect:

According to The Daily Beast, seven "senior Trump administration officials with knowledge of Miller's standing with the president and top staffers have all individually told The Daily Beast that the story did not endanger Miller's position, or change Trump's favorable view of him. Two of them literally laughed at the mere suggestion that the Hatewatch exposé could have toppled or hobbled the top Trump adviser."

The Daily Beast still suffers from nettles in the undies over that experience; their story today was headlined White Nationalist and Ex-Trump Aide Stephen Miller to Make White House Return.

Bringing Miller back makes two points. First, Trump is dead serious about reducing the social, national security, and economic scourge of illegal immigration. Second, he is in "honey badger" mode; he knows the criticism Miller will attract and doesn't care.

Combine this with Tom Homan's appointment as "border czar," and you probably have the worst Monday imaginable for open-border types; see President-Elect Trump Names Tom Homan 'Border Czar'.

Ana Navarro reacting to Tom Homan being named border czar: A lot of people thought that when [Trump] talked about mass deportations, he wasn’t being serious...Mass deportations means brothers and aunts...it means Dreamers....Those of you who voted for Trump, this is what you… pic.twitter.com/IJL58hIeyv

— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) November 11, 2024