'Rabid' Stephen Miller Known for Sending 'Angry' Emails About Immigration Before Trump Promotion: 'He Wasn't Seen as a Power Player'
Alyssa Farah Griffin said elevating Stephen Miller to White House chief of staff would double down on policies voters rejected in the midterms.
Nov. 12 2026, Published 5:50 p.m. ET
Before becoming one of President Donald Trump's most influential advisers, Stephen Miller was known as a "rabid ideologue" who regularly sent angry, immigration-focused talking points to congressional offices, according to former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The View co-host recalled how he was viewed as an eccentric figure on Capitol Hill rather than a major political player.
Stephen Miller’s 'Eccentric and Aggressive' Behavior
Alyssa Farrah Griffin recalled Miller as an aggressive ideological figure.
Griffin warned against promoting the longtime Trump adviser to White House chief of staff, calling him the ideological force behind MAGA and arguing that elevating him would double down on the immigration policies and political agenda voters rejected in the midterm elections.
Griffin said she has known Miller for more than a decade, when she worked as a senior communications adviser on Capitol Hill, and he worked for then-Sen. Jeff Sessions.
She recalled Miller as an eccentric and aggressive ideological figure who regularly emailed dozens of congressional offices with angry immigration talking points.
Colleagues would joke in response, "This is an Arby's. Calm down, Stephen Miller." At the time, he was viewed more as a character than a major power player.
Griffin's conversation comes at a time when Republicans were met with a disastrous midterm defeat.
Griffin said Trump's 2016 campaign and White House allowed Miller to become a central ideological force behind the MAGA and America First movements, filling a role for a president more focused on power and fame than ideology.
Miller has been one of Trump’s longest-serving advisers since 2016 and a central architect of the administration’s immigration policies.
Griffin's comments came amid speculation about White House staffing changes following Republicans' midterm defeats, including the departure of former Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
'Doubling Down on Everything That Was Just Rebuked in the Midterms'
Griffin criticized aggressive enforcement approaches she said were designed to intimidate communities, calling them 'shock and awe.'
Speaking on The View’s Behind the Table podcast, Griffin criticized the possibility of Trump making Miller White House chief of staff after the midterm losses.
"Stephen Miller is the ideology behind MAGA, America First, and what propelled Donald Trump to be who he is," she said. "So making him chief of staff is an absolute doubling down on everything that was just rebuked in the midterms."
She specifically criticized Miller's role in aggressive immigration enforcement and ICE operations, describing tactics she compared to the Gestapo and saying, "It was shock and awe. It's wanting to scare people. It's wanting to feel like they run these streets. It's who he's always been."
Stephen Miller's 'Inciting Incident'?
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While calling Miller intelligent, Griffin suggested his strong feelings about immigration may stem from an 'inciting incident' in his past.
Griffin described Miller as intelligent but said his intensity on immigration did not feel natural.
"I want to be careful in saying this, because Stephen is a very smart person: His feelings with regard to immigration don't feel natural to me. It feels like there was an inciting incident somewhere. Something must have happened that made him have this level of vitriol and anger," she said.
