094: Who the Hell is Stephen Miller?

From Posting Through It by Jared Holt and Michael Edison Hayden

April 6, 2026 · 2h 1m · Season 2 · Episode 94

About this episode

The episode explores the rise and influence of Stephen Miller in American politics, featuring insights from those who knew him before his national prominence.

At just 40 years old, Stephen Miller has cemented himself as the most influential policy mind and speechwriter of the MAGA era. Aside from Steve Bannon — and Trump himself — few figures have done more to define what MAGA means in practice. But influence is only part of the story. Miller is also one of the most polarizing figures in American politics. He has spent much of his career focused on restricting immigration, relentlessly pursuing those ideological efforts with striking intensity. To critics, that focus reflects a broader ideological project with profound consequences. In this episode, Posting Through It is joined by two people who knew Miller before he became a national figure: author and intellectual Peter Laufer , and Katie McHugh , the former Breitbart News writer who later released emails from Miller that referenced white nationalist material. They join Jared and Mike in helping trace how Miller rose to power—and what his trajectory reveals about the movement he helped shape. Order your copy of "Strange People on the Hill: How Extremism Tore Apart a Small American Town" Join us in Washington, DC, on April 11 at Politics & Prose (Conn. Ave) Transition…

People in this episode

Hosts: Jared Holt, Michael Edison Hayden

Guests: Peter Laufer, Katie McHugh

Topics covered

Stephen Miller
MAGA
immigration policy
political influence
polarizing figures
extremism

Keywords

Stephen Miller
MAGA
immigration
politics
Peter Laufer
Katie McHugh
Breitbart
extremism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Breitbart News

Books & works: Strange People on the Hill: How Extremism Tore Apart a Small American Town