Stephen Miller schooled the White House press corps on presidential powers. His “civics lesson” at Thursday’s briefing fired up conservatives.
The White House deputy chief of staff for policy tackled a question about Elon Musk. Reporters worried about Musk being an “unelected bureaucrat” but ignored Biden’s mental decline.
“You’re tempting me to say very harsh things about some of our media friends,” Miller began. “It is true that many of the people in this room for four years failed to cover the fact that Joe Biden was mentally incompetent and was not running the country.”
He called out the media’s misunderstanding of government. “It is also true that many people in this room who have used this talking point that Elon is not elected fail to understand how government works. So I’m glad for the opportunity for a brief civics lesson,” he continued.
“A president is elected by the whole American people,” Miller explained. “He’s the only official in the entire government that is elected by the entire nation, right? Judges are appointed. Members of Congress are elected at the district or state level.”
He broke down the Constitution’s Vesting Clause. “Article II says the executive power shall be vested in a president, singular. The whole will of democracy is imbued into the elected president. That president then appoints staff to then impose that democratic will onto the government.”
Miller shifted focus to what he saw as the real problem. “The threat to democracy, indeed the existential threat to democracy, is the unelected bureaucracy of lifetime-tenured civil servants who believe they answer to no one,” he said.
He slammed federal agencies for resisting reform. “They believe they can do whatever they want without consequence. They believe they can set their own agenda no matter what Americans vote for,” he added.
He named the FBI, the EPA, and the Justice Department. These bureaucrats “don’t want to change” despite voters demanding radical reform.
Trump, Miller argued, was simply enforcing democracy. “What President Trump is doing is he is removing federal bureaucrats who are defying democracy by failing to implement his lawful orders, which are the will of the whole American people,” he said.
Conservative voices on X cheered Miller’s remarks. They saw it as a takedown of biased reporters.
Comedian Tim Young praised the speech. “Stephen Miller torches the media and calls them out on not knowing how the government works: ‘I’m glad for an opportunity for a brief civics lesson.’ I loved every second of this.”
Knox County Mayor Glen Jacobs called it a “Schoolhouse Rock!” moment. National Review’s Dan McLaughlin agreed. “He’s right, you know,” he said.
Sen. Josh Hawley’s communications director, Abigail Jackson, shared the clip. “I love this clip of @StephenM calling the media out to their faces about their refusal to cover Biden’s mental incompetence. So good.”
Conservative journalist Ian Miles Cheong summed it up. “Stephen Miller explains in very clear and concise terms to the ignorant news media how Donald Trump was elected to represent the will of the American people, and that it isn’t the place of unelected career bureaucrats to run their own agendas.”