Good evening. I’m British Chris, and this is Raw America. Before we get started, take a second to tap the ❤️ and the restack icon so we can break through the algorithm and make sure these stories get read by the most people.
Tonight, Raw America has an exclusive report, in which our sources both on Capitol Hill and inside Donald Trump’s White House are sounding the alarm over Stephen Miller’s promotion to chief of staff, saying he could ruin the remainder of Trump’s second presidency. The White House is still doubling down on its tariff agenda even after voters just drummed Republicans out of office last week over high prices. The president’s nominee to run the Food and Drug Administration is in trouble, thanks to two lame duck Republican senators who just lost their reelection bids. And political appointees at the Trump Justice Department are now scrambling for the exits over fears that being linked to a vastly unpopular administration could doom their careers.
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Exclusive: Trump Insider Says Stephen Miller’s ‘Reign of Terror’ Could Destroy White House
Both Republican members of Congress and career White House staffers are fearing that President Donald Trump making Stephen Miller his new White House chief of staff could completely destabilize the remainder of Trump’s second term, according to sources who’ve spoken with Raw America.
One Trump staffer told Raw America that Miller’s “reign of terror” could destroy the executive branch. “Imagine going to work every day not knowing what we’re going to do, or how we’re going to accomplish it,” the staffer said. “Total chaos.”
On background, several Republicans on Capitol Hill confided that Miller is incapable of reaching consensus, unable to manage and is “a racist rage machine” whose hardline immigration policies “guaranteed our destruction” in last week’s midterm elections. Outgoing Republican Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska said many Republicans have told him they consider Miller to be a “lunatic, a racist [and] a sadist.”
Republicans are also blaming Miller for the recent embarrassing snafu in which Trump announced that he was offering the job of White House press secretary to Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White. That resulted in a public retraction and a rare appearance from the president in the White House briefing room in which Trump attributed the faux pas to a joke in order to soften Republicans’ bad losses last week. White turned down the offer, saying he has “no interest” in politics.
One source close to Trump told Raw America that the Dana White debacle “has Stephen Miller’s fingerprints all over it,” and that it was “no coincidence that he showed up in the briefing room right after Susie [Wiles] left.
“It definitely would not have happened if she was the Chief of Staff,” the source added. “She knew how to manage.”
One Republican insider anonymously confided that the Dana White story proves “there is no one left to guide the presidency.”
“Republicans very soon will have to beg Trump to fire him,” the Republican said. “He’s that dangerous.”
Some Republicans have been more public in their opposition to Miller’s promotion. Republican Congressman Marlin Stutzman of Indiana told Fox News Digital on Friday that Trump made a “horrible decision” in replacing Susie Wiles with Stephen Miller, adding that “because of his immigration positions, I think we just ruined a lot of goodwill with Latino voters.”
Miller biographer Jean Guerrero, who authored the book “Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda,” told MS NOW over the weekend that Miller was, above all, a “sadist.”
“He is somebody who takes pleasure in inflicting pain,” she told the network. “And there’s one group of people he actually despises more than immigrants, and people aren’t really aware of this, but it’s the allies of immigrants — it’s citizens who use their privilege to stand up for immigrants and for the less powerful.”
Raw America’s repeated requests to the Trump administration for comment were not returned as of Tuesday evening.
Tell election officials: reject Trump’s lies and certify the midterms!
Trump to Plow Ahead with Tariffs Despite Voter Anger Over High Prices
Just one week after voters across the country ousted Republicans from office over the cost of living crisis, the Trump White House says it’s keeping its unpopular tariffs in place.
At the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s B20 summit on Tuesday, Jim Goyer — who is the director of the White House Office of Public Liaison — argued to business leaders from around the world that the president’s tariffs are rejuvenating American manufacturing. He added the White Houser is “just getting started.”
Later, at that same event, Trump’s former chief economic advisor, Gary Cohn, slammed the tariffs “a consumption tax on the U.S. consumer.” Cohn said the president’s focus on bringing in new revenue through tariffs is a narrow-minded approach that only takes into consideration the credit side of the balance sheet, while ignoring that every American pays tariffs on things they buy.
Voters seem to agree with Cohn’s position. CNBC’s Voter Poll found that roughly two-thirds of voters in last week’s midterms blamed high inflation on Trump’s economic policies. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows hat 62 percent of Americans want Congress to repeal the tariffs.
The timing isn’t great for the White House. New data that just came out today showed consumer prices went up by 0.4 percent in October. The war with Iran has pushed costs even higher, but a study by the New York Fed study found that around 26 percent of tariff increases are simply passed down to consumers. Democrats are aiming to vote to repeal the tariffs once the new majorities are sworn in on January 3, though Trump is likely to veto any attempt to repeal them.
Lame Duck GOP Senator Suggests He May Not Confirm Trump Nominee
Heidi Overton, who is Trump’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), could fail to cross the finish line after the GOP’s midterm wipeout. And that’s before the new Democratic majorities are sworn in.
According to the Washington Sun, Overton has an incredibly narrow path to get confirmed. She would need every Republican senator on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee to vote for her. Two of those Republicans — committee chairman Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Susan Collins of Maine — lost their reelection bids and may not feel compelled to do the president any favors.
Cassidy, who is a physician and vaccine supporter, lost Louisiana’s Republican U.S. Senate primary to Trump-endorsed candidate Julia Letlow. When reporters asked him yesterday if he had reservations about Overton, he was cagey, quipping that curious minds would have to live with “suspense” about the vote for a few more days.
Collins, who lost her bid for a sixth term to Democrat Troy Jackson last week, has also not made it clear how she would vote on Overton’s nomination. Abortion could be a major sticking point, since Overton wouldn’t commit to taking a position on whether her FDA would review the abortion pill mifepristone during her initial HELP Committee confirmation hearing.
Overton’s time is quickly running out in the lame duck session, with Republicans scrambling to confirm dozens of nominees before the new Democratic majority takes over on January 3. She also lost a key advocate in the White House after former chief of staff Susie Wiles resigned. If Overton doesn’t get confirmed by the end of the lame duck session, the White House would reportedly tap Sara Brenner, a former top FDA deputy, to take her place.
DOJ Appointees Quit Amid Fears Trump Ties Could Tank Their Careers
Finally, Trump’s political appointees at the Justice Department are reportedly scrambling for the exits after the midterms. Bloomberg is reporting that several current and former DOJ officials say political appointees are worried that being connected to a deeply unpopular president and his agenda could end up sinking their careers. Trump’s elevation of Stephen Miller to be the new White House chief of staff has only added to DOJ appointees’ fears. Some have reportedly been calling their contacts in the private sector for professional advice.
Four Senate-confirmed Justice Department officials have already left the DOJ since the midterms, including Brett Shumate, the head of the DOJ’s Civil Division, who resigned from his post yesterday. One department spokesperson dismissed the report of top appointees leaving as “click-bait,” and Attorney General Todd Blanche said there’s nothing unprecedented about political appointees quitting after a midterm election.
Officials told Bloomberg the DOJ split into two camps: some MAGA lawyers are apparently digging in to fight oversight attempts from the new Democratic Congress, though some are worried they could lose their their licenses to practice law as a result. Some of them are apparently contemplating getting professional liability insurance. The other camp includes more traditional conservatives who hope to land jobs at big law firms, and are seriously considering leaving in order to distance themselves from the Trump administration.
Rod Rosenstein, who served as deputy attorney general in Trump’s first presidency, warned that with so many experienced lawyers leaving the DOJ, the ones who are still there are “going to make mistakes.” One current DOJ official confided to Bloomberg that anyone who thinks they could be investigated in the future would want to get “the hell away from this.”
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I’m British Chris, with Raw America. Thanks for watching, and thanks for supporting independent journalism. Be sure to hit the ❤️ and restack this newsletter so these stories can reach the most people.
Don’t miss our live interview tomorrow at 12 PM ET with Michigan Democratic Party chair Curtis Hertel! You can watch live on our homepage at RawAmerica.com.
