Stephen Miller’s arguments for White House actions in US cities and abroad

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than a year before an American military operation Deposed Nicolás MaduroA senior aide to President Donald Trump has argued that the Venezuelan leader is sending gang members to the United States.

“If you are the dictator of a poor country with a high crime rate, wouldn’t you send your criminals to our open border?” Stephen Miller he told reporters at the close of Trump’s 2024 comeback campaign.

Miller currently serves as the White House chief of staff for policy, where he plays a key role in supporting Trump’s policy agenda. His bombastic style and zero-sum worldview made him a lightning rod within the administration. Critics argue that Miller’s rhetoric about foreign nations and immigrants reflects racist and imperialist ideas that have supported military actions by the United States and other nations for centuries.

In a joint statement made by the governments of Spain and five Latin American countries following the Venezuela operation, countries in the region were called for “mutual respect, peaceful resolution of disputes and non-interference”, while Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., described the administration’s Venezuela policy as “old-fashioned imperialism”.

“Advocating policies that put American citizens first is not racist. Anyone who says so is either deliberately lying or just plain stupid,” said White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson.

Let’s take a look at how Miller laid the rhetorical groundwork for this month’s attack on Venezuela and what his comments say about the administration’s broader worldview.

Miller argues Western nations’ aid to the developing world is ‘reverse colonization’

Shortly after the US operation that captured Maduro, Miller wrote on social media: “Shortly after World War II, the West dismantled its empires and colonies and began sending massive amounts of taxpayer-funded aid to these former territories (even though it had already made them much richer and more successful). Through a form of reverse colonization, the West opened its borders, sending prosperity and therefore money, extending to these newcomers and their families not only full voting rights but also preferential legal and financial treatment over natives. Citizenship. “The neoliberal experiment was, in essence, a long-term self-punishment of the places and peoples who built the modern world.”

Miller argues Venezuelan oil is stolen from US oil industry

Two weeks before Maduro’s arrest, Miller repeated Trump’s December claims that the Venezuelan oil industry was being stolen from American oil companies:

“American sweat, ingenuity, and labor created the oil industry in Venezuela. The brutal expropriation of this industry was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property. These looted assets were then used to finance terrorism and fill our streets with murderers, mercenaries, and drugs,” Miller said. wrote on social media.

Miller says Venezuelan government is at the service of the United States

Miller claimed to reporters in January that U.S. military force ensured compliance by the Caracas government.

“We have an oil embargo for any kind of trade in Venezuela. They need our permission. We still have our huge fleet or armada there. This is an active and ongoing military operation of the U.S. government, so of course we set the terms and conditions,” Miller said.

He added: “Our discussions are that we have full, complete and complete cooperation from the Venezuelan government, and as a result of that cooperation, the Venezuelan people will be richer than ever before. And of course, the United States will benefit greatly from this in terms of economic, security and military cooperation, counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism and all other dimensions of our security.”

Miller calls for a power-based world order and says US military occupation of Greenland will go unchallenged

In a wide-ranging interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper in January, Miller repeatedly defended the primacy of American power and criticized the international order that the United States once ruled.

“You can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else. But we live in a real world, Jake, ruled by power, ruled by power, ruled by power. These are the iron laws of the world,” Miller said.

Miller also dismissed concerns that Trump’s promise to seize Greenland from Denmark, another member of the NATO military alliance, could trigger a military conflict with Europe.

“No one is going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland,” Miller said.

Miller claims Western nations are ‘despicable’ to former colonies

In the same interview, Miller said that it would be “absurd and unreasonable” and “not even a serious question” to suggest that the administration support Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado’s bid to lead the country because the military does not support her.

Tapper then asked whether elections should be held in the South American country.

Miller responded: “The United States uses its military to unapologetically secure our interests in our hemisphere. We are a superpower, and under President Trump, we will act like a superpower. It is absurd that we allow a nation in our own backyard to be a supplier of resources to our enemies but not to us, to hoard weapons from our enemies, to position itself as an entity against the United States rather than on behalf of the United States.”

The host pressed Miller on whether sovereign countries have the right to run their own affairs.

Miller explained the administration’s position: “The Monroe Doctrine and the Trump Doctrine are all about securing America’s national interests. For years we sent our soldiers to die in the deserts of the Middle East to build them parliaments, to build them democracies, to give them more oil, to give them more resources. The future of the free world, Jake, depends on America being able to defend ourselves and our interests without apology.” He called for “an end to this whole period after World War II where the West started apologizing and degrading and embarking on these massive reparations plans.”

He also defended the administration’s operation and reiterated his past claims that Maduro is sending criminals to the United States: “We will not allow petty communist dictators to send rapists to our country, to send drugs to our country, to send weapons to our country.”

Miller criticizes anti-ICE protests following immigration crackdown in Minneapolis

Miller returned to supporting the administration’s stance on domestic issues such as immigration and partisan politics.

On Tuesday, following nationwide protests after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a woman in Minnesota, Miller wrote on social media: “Americans are overwhelmingly voting for mass deportation. Congress passed legislation requiring it and then passed new legislation to fully fund it. The response of the Democratic Party and its activists has been to support and orchestrate violent resistance to federal law enforcement.”

He later added in a separate post: “If it wasn’t clear by now, if the Democrats won they would turn every city into Mogadishu, Kabul or Port-au-Prince.”