Stephen Miller deploys gory photos and secret messaging apps to manipulate Trump: report
A new report revealed that Stephen Miller has perfected a shadowy playbook for wielding power inside the Trump White House, one that relies on gruesome imagery, encrypted messaging apps, and carefully avoiding any paper trail.
A Wall Street Journal report on Tuesday revealed that the powerful White House adviser operates with virtually no written documentation, instead using the encrypted messaging platform Signal to communicate orders and directives. The strategy allows Miller to craft narratives that shape the president's most consequential decisions, with little or no accountability.
The report said Miller's manipulation tactics extend to showing Trump graphic, disturbing images to sway policy decisions.
"He often uses gory images to persuade Trump," the report said. "After a Department of Government Efficiency staffer, Edward Coristine, also known as 'Big Balls,' was beaten in an attempted carjacking last summer, Miller brought the president a large photo of the bloodied man and told him that crime in Washington was climbing. Trump soon posted the photo himself on social media, and deployed the National Guard, saying it was necessary to make the city safe."
The strategy proved effective in the Alex Pretti shooting crisis, as well. Just three hours after federal agents fatally shot the Veterans Affairs nurse in Minneapolis, Miller declared Pretti a "domestic terrorist" on social media without approval or review from other White House officials. He shared a photo of Pretti's handgun with administration insiders. Trump later reposted the weapon's image on Truth Social.
Video evidence later kneecapped Miller's inflammatory characterization, but the damage was done, triggering one of Trump's second term's biggest political disasters.