Miller Defends Trump’s Criticism Of US As Boosting ‘Principles Of Western Civilization’

Senior Advisor to the president Stephen Miller is seen during a round table discussion with law enforcement officials on sanctuary cities in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on March 20, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / MAND... Senior Advisor to the president Stephen Miller is seen during a round table discussion with law enforcement officials on sanctuary cities in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on March 20, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

White House immigration advisor and speechwriter Stephen Miller went full dog whistle on Sunday, saying that President Donald Trump was merely upholding the “principles of Western civilization” when he criticized the US in the past.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that progressive Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) “hate our country” because they’ve criticized American policies.

Yet, as Fox News host Chris Wallace pointed out to Miller, Trump’s complained about the US plenty of times, particularly during his 2016 campaign.

“I think President Obama has been the most ignorant president in our history,” Trump said in a clip Wallace pulled up. “Nobody respects us, they are laughing at us, we don’t know what we’re doing.”

“Why is what those congresswomen have said any worse than what you just heard Donald Trump say?” the Fox reporter asked Miller.

“Anybody who’s running for office, right, left, or center, always points out with they think America can do better and where America needs to go,” Miller responded. “But there’s a fundamental distinction between people who think that we need to lean into and strengthen America’s core values, whether it be our constitutional values, the rule of law, the principles of Western civilization, or people who think it would basically need to turn America into Venezuela.”

Trump caused a firestorm last week when he tweeted that the four nonwhite congresswomen should “go back” to the “crime infested places from which they came.” Since then, he’s tried to spin the racist tweets as an attack against their “hatred” for the US because they’ve criticized the country and its policies.

On Sunday, Trump tweeted that the four congresswomen aren’t “capable of loving our Country.”

Watch Miller below:

Latest News
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: