During the transition, Bannon and Stephen Miller, a former Sessions aide who had earlier joined the Trump campaign and then become Bannon’s effective assistant and researcher, assembled a list of more than two hundred EOs (Executive Orders) to issue in the first hundred days. But the first step in the new Trump administration had to be immigration, in Bannon’s certain view.
.... Before Trump, Bannon had bonded with Sessions on the issue. The Trump campaign became a sudden opportunity to see if nativism really had legs. And then when they won, Bannon understood there could be no hesitation about declaring their ethnocentric heart and soul.
....In the larger media and political world, Miller — who Bannon referred to as “my typist” —was a figure of ever increasing incredulity. He could hardly be taken out in public without engaging in some screwball, if not screeching, fit of denunciation and grievance. He was the de facto crafter of policy and speeches, and yet up until now he had largely only taken dictation.
Bannon got Stephen Miller to write the immigration EO. Miller, a fifty-five year-old.... was a former Jeff Sessions staffer brought on to the Trump campaign for his political experience. Except, other than being a dedicated far-right conservative, it was unclear what particular abilities accompanied Miller’s political views. He was supposed to be a speechwriter, but if so, he seemed restricted to bullet points and unable to construct sentences. He was supposed to be a policy adviser but knew little about policy. He was supposed to be the house intellectual but was purposely unread.
He was supposed to be a communications specialist, but he antagonized almost everyone. Bannon, during the transition, sent him to the Internet to learn about and to try to draft the EO (Executive Order).....
[To read the pages yourself, type "typist" in the search bar on the left side of the book page, and after you read that paragraph, type "Stephen Miller" in the search bar for the rest.]
More from the Forward: Jews should disown Stephen Miller Over Trump's Family Separation Disgrace.
On a related note: Rep. Steven King of Iowa says he doesn't want Somali Muslims working at meat-packing facilities that handle pork because they don't eat pork and they might hope he goes to Hell for eating it.
According to King, [fellow Rep.] Ellison said that Somali Muslims must go to the Imam for "special dispensation" to handle pork."The rationale is that if infidels are eating this pork, they aren't eating it, so as long as they're preparing this pork for infidels, it helps send 'em to hell and it'll make Allah happy," he said on the radio. "I don't want people doing my pork that won't eat it. Let alone hope I'll go to hell for eating pork chops."
How are the Somali Muslims different than Jews who keep kosher and don't eat pork -- some of whom own Iowa meat-packing companies?
King should not be re-elected to Congress.
King is known for his anti-immigration stances, saying that "we can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies." King has also said he wants "an America so homogeneous that we look the same."
Also, according to the Des Moines Register, less than 1/3 of 1 percent of Iowa's meat-packing employees are Somali Muslims (I've read elsewhere they almost all work in the poultry departments).
The public may have no say as to whether Jared or Ivanka or Stephen Miller are Trump advisers, but Iowans have the right to vote King out of office, and they should, in my view.
