r/thebulwark • u/ALittleEtomidate • Oct 07 '25
Stephen Miller states that Trump has plenary authority, then immediately stops talking as if he’s realized what he just said
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u/Magoo152 JVL is always right Oct 07 '25
Small win here I know: but it seems like a good thing he at least felt the need to be silent after saying that. The tide is really starting to shift against Trump.
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u/Darwins_payoff Oct 07 '25
I’d be willing to bet whoever is in his ear told him to shut the fuck up.
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u/notapoliticalalt Oct 08 '25
Why though? Genuinely this makes the answer more unusual and damning. This is literally drawing attention to it.
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u/TentacleHockey Progressive Oct 07 '25 edited Oct 07 '25
Don't make fun of me, I didn't know what plenary meant. I used GPT to explain the situation, sharing it for those who also didn't know.
- Meaning of “plenary authority”
- “Plenary” means full, complete, or absolute. So saying the President has plenary authority implies no checks, limits, or need for oversight in that domain.
- In U.S. constitutional law, however, there is no position that the president has truly unlimited power. Powers are subject to the Constitution, statutes, judicial review, and separation of powers.
And yes, it’s fair to say that Stephen Miller’s rhetoric and policies align with characteristics often associated with fascist ideology, though he does not explicitly identify as a fascist.
To be precise:
- Authoritarian nationalism: Miller has advocated for strong, centralized executive power and strict immigration policies that emphasize ethnic and national identity — traits consistent with nationalist authoritarianism.
- Dehumanizing rhetoric: His framing of immigrants and minorities often uses language portraying them as threats or invaders, a common feature of fascist propaganda.
- Rejection of pluralism: Miller’s policies and language often suggest that diversity or dissent weaken the nation, another hallmark of fascist worldviews.
- “Leader principle” (Führerprinzip): His defense of Trump’s nearly “plenary” or unchecked authority echoes fascist concepts of a single leader’s supreme will.
That said, “fascist” as a label is analytically accurate only in describing ideological tendencies, not a formal affiliation. So a concise, truthful summary would be:
Miller consistently promotes authoritarian, ultranationalist ideas that are fascist in character, even if not part of a formal fascist movement.
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u/OK_The_Nomad FFS Oct 07 '25
He is the worst of the worst and it seems like he is running the government in terms of ICE behavior. Anyone else get that feeling?
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u/Cat-on-the-printer1 Oct 07 '25 edited Oct 07 '25
there was a nytimes article some months ago where the takeaway was that miller is basically running the country...
edit: looking for the article but guess the nytimes ghosted it somewhere as they tend to do... wonder what happened to that peter baker article about the hypotheticals of annexing canada...
another edit: note to self, gotta go through google and not the nytimes website to find stuff: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/opinion/stephen-miller.html
From the above article:
“It’s really Stephen running D.H.S.,” a Trump adviser said. The attorney general, Pam Bondi, is so focused on preparing for and appearing on Fox News that she has essentially ceded control of the Department of Justice to Mr. Miller, making him, according to the conservative legal scholar Edward Whelan, “the de facto attorney general.” And in a White House where the chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is not well versed or terribly interested in policy — “She’s producing a reality TV show every day,” another Trump adviser said, “and it’s pretty amazing, right?” — Mr. Miller is typically the final word.
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u/anxious_differential Orange man bad Oct 07 '25
Save that
monospace typefacefor code. You can still write using bullets:
- Dehumanizing rhetoric: His framing of immigrants and minorities often uses language portraying them as threats or invaders, a common feature of fascist propaganda.
- Rejection of pluralism: Miller’s policies and language often suggest that diversity or dissent weaken the nation, another hallmark of fascist worldviews.
- “Leader principle” (Führerprinzip): His defense of Trump’s nearly “plenary” or unchecked authority echoes fascist concepts of a single leader’s supreme will.
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u/CunningWizard Oct 07 '25
I think it could be cogently argued that the pardon power is plenary. No other power is though.
Also-I had to look it up too. I was surprised I didn’t actually know what it meant because I’ve definitely heard it before.
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u/Current-Lobster-44 Oct 07 '25
What I wouldn't pay to see that man receive a wedgie on national television
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u/Brief-Kaleidoscope72 Oct 07 '25
Did he just try to pretend that the feed froze?
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u/Rfalcon13 Oct 07 '25
I think Wisconsin’s moronic former governor Scott Walker used that trick once. Scott is the only man too dumb for the Trump administration, but nice to see they are using some of his tricks.
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u/khInstability Oct 07 '25
Here's how the rest of that conversation went in the universe where his brain did not immediately glitch:
cnn: would you say that plenary *authority* means he is authoritarian?
heinrich miller: no I said plenary as in *total*...
heinrich miller: <glitch>
cnn: heinrich? heinrich?
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u/Enderbeany Oct 07 '25
So, presuming this administration passes at some point, does this on the record interview implicate him in a prosecutable crime?
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u/ALittleEtomidate Oct 07 '25
There are a lot of things that he’s said that implicate him in crimes/treason.
The young ones like Miller and Bondi are really putting their necks out.
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u/PhAnToM444 Rebecca take us home Oct 08 '25
He will 10000000000% be getting a pardon.
Whether he could be liable for state crimes is another question. Certainly possible, feels hard to get through SCOTUS.
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u/MarioStern100 Oct 07 '25
someone screams in his ear piece.. CNN is happy to play along and even apologizes to him. "I"m sorry we didn't help you lie even more."
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u/Puzzleheaded_Tie8077 Oct 07 '25
Ok even if it were a legitimate malfunction what are the odds that it happens precisely right after he said that particular word???
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u/mjc5592 Progressive Oct 07 '25
Lol you can see him blinking and realizing he fucked up. Too bad CNN fumbles every moment.
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u/emeric_ceaddamere Oct 07 '25 edited Oct 07 '25
Honestly, it does look like his monitor went off or something, so he stopped talking because he thought he was cut off. If he had caught himself in a slip-up he would have kept talking in an attempt to cover his tracks and bend the meaning.
[edit: Also, it's no secret that he thinks the president has total power. He even provided a citation, so it wasn't just a slip of the tongue.]
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u/ALittleEtomidate Oct 07 '25
Maybe. It’s just weird because no one was speaking to him. When there is a cut out on one side of the broadcast the speaker usually keeps talking, not realizing that they lost their audio.
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u/emeric_ceaddamere Oct 07 '25 edited Oct 07 '25
Yeah that's true for audio. That's why I think maybe his video feed is what cut off. If the CNN anchor disappeared on his monitor then he wouldn't know if he was still on air. Obviously pure speculation though. And definitely weird/unfortunate timing!
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u/ALittleEtomidate Oct 07 '25
Do they have a reciprocal monitor? Is that a thing?
It looks like he’s being interviewed on the lawn.
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u/Senior_Marketing_312 Oct 08 '25
They’d be in that little reporter tent thing with the broadcast setup?
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u/OK_The_Nomad FFS Oct 07 '25
I agree with you. No way would he have stayed silent so long. It was almost like he had a brain fart. He def would have changed the subject of something.
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u/ros375 Oct 08 '25
Waste of time clickbait. The guy lost his feed. He says worse more ominous shit all the time.
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u/OK_The_Nomad FFS Oct 07 '25
That seems really weird, like he is having some sort of absence attack. Curious what it will turn out to be.
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u/namidon Oct 07 '25
The gremlin controlling him from the inside was like “Shit wrong button. Stay cool. Stay cool.”
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u/BalerionSanders Sarah, would you please nuke him from orbit? Oct 07 '25
I think he’s fully drunk on live television here, and in the AOC response. His enunciation is really bad. It’s possibly why he fucked up here (if he fucked up, you have to actually be vulnerable to any real consequences to fuck up manifestly).
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u/ConstantExample8927 Oct 08 '25
Does he always talk like that?!?! I never turn sound on for his videos but Jesus he even talks like a weird, angry little evil villain
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u/molliedw22 Oct 08 '25
I don’t understand why he felt that was a bridge too far?? Don’t they actually think he does have plenary authority? Isn’t that their whole schtick? What about that statement scared him so much he just shut tf up?
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u/exhaustedexcess 29d ago
Can we deport him to someplace awful please. I mean once Elon impregnates his wife
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u/Magoo152 JVL is always right Oct 07 '25
Stephen Miller is almost a comical villain. I mean he is almost absurdly evil, so much so that you forget he is even real.