5 Chilling Ways Stephen Miller's Rhetoric Echoes Joseph Goebbels' Propaganda Techniques

The comparison between Stephen Miller and Joseph Goebbels is a subject that has persistently resurfaced in political commentary, particularly as the former White House senior advisor continues to shape the "America First" movement and its associated rhetoric. As of December 2025, the debate has intensified, fueled by Miller's aggressive public statements, which critics argue employ a playbook of division, fear, and the systematic dehumanization of perceived enemies, drawing a stark historical parallel to the chief propagandist of the Nazi regime. This article examines the core techniques and thematic similarities between the two figures, moving beyond mere political insult to analyze the structural and psychological methods used to influence public opinion and drive policy. The recent focus on Miller's rhetoric, specifically following a 2024 speech at a memorial for activist Charlie Kirk, has brought the comparison back into sharp relief, highlighting the enduring nature of these propaganda strategies in modern politics.

Stephen Miller: A Brief Political Biography and Profile

Stephen Miller is an American political advisor known for his conservative views and his significant, hardline role in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. His career trajectory showcases a rapid ascent from a congressional aide to a central figure in national policy-making.

• Born: August 23, 1985, in Santa Monica, California.
• Education: Graduated from Duke University.
• Early Career: Worked as a press secretary for Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and as communications director for Senator Jeff Sessions.
• Trump Administration Role: Served as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and as the Homeland Security Advisor.
• Key Policy Influence: He is widely credited as the architect of the Trump administration's most draconian immigration policies, including the *zero-tolerance policy* that resulted in the highly controversial *family separation policy* at the U.S.-Mexico border.
• Current Status: Remains a highly influential figure in conservative politics, focusing on immigration and cultural issues.

The Propagandist's Playbook: Goebbels's Core Principles

To understand the comparison, one must first grasp the foundational principles employed by Joseph Goebbels, the *Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda* for the Third Reich. Goebbels was a master of modern media manipulation, leveraging every tool available—radio, film, art, and the press—to cement the Nazi Party's control and disseminate its ideology. His methods were not random; they were a calculated system designed to control thought and action:

1. Censorship and Control: Establishing a monopoly on information by censoring all opposition and ensuring the media issued unified, consistent directives.
2. The Big Lie (*Große Lüge*): Repeating a lie so frequently and forcefully that the public eventually accepts it as truth.
3. Simplification and Stereotyping: Reducing complex issues to simple, emotionally charged slogans and stereotyping the enemy to facilitate hatred.
4. The Cult of Personality: Promoting unwavering, almost religious devotion to the leader (*Führerprinzip*).

Goebbels's goal was not merely to inform but to mobilize the masses through psychological warfare, crafting the myths and rituals that demanded devotion to Adolf Hitler and spread vicious *antisemitism*.

5 Chilling Parallels in Rhetoric and Technique

Critics argue that Stephen Miller's communication style and policy focus mirror Goebbels's playbook, particularly in his use of rhetoric that simplifies complex societal issues into a battle between good and evil, often referred to as "civilizational warfare."

1. The Creation and Dehumanization of the 'Enemy'

Both figures centered their campaigns on identifying, isolating, and dehumanizing a specific enemy group to unify their political base.

• Joseph Goebbels: The primary enemy was the Jewish people, alongside Communists and other political opponents. Propaganda relentlessly portrayed them as an existential threat to the German people and the Aryan race, using terms like "vermin" or "parasites" to strip them of their humanity.
• Stephen Miller: Miller's rhetoric similarly focuses on immigrants and asylum seekers, often using language that depicts them as invaders, criminals, or a "domestic extremist organization" that threatens the nation's security and cultural integrity. His advocacy for the *family separation policy* was a direct, systemic action that treated the target group as subhuman, where the separation of children was a tool of policy and fear.

2. The Use of 'The Big Lie' and Repetition

Goebbels famously understood that a lie, repeated often enough, becomes the truth. This principle is a cornerstone of modern political messaging.

• Joseph Goebbels: Repeated the lie that Germany was "stabbed in the back" (the *Dolchstoßlegende*) after World War I, blaming Jews and Communists for the nation's defeat and subsequent economic woes. This lie became the justification for the Nazi Party's rise to power.
• Stephen Miller: Miller is known for relentlessly pushing unsubstantiated or false claims about widespread voter fraud and the inherent criminality of immigrant populations. His public statements are often described as "uncommonly shameless" and treating the audience as "stupid and gullible" by critics, relying on sheer repetition over factual basis to cement a narrative of national crisis.

3. Transforming Political Events into Propaganda Platforms

The strategic use of public events, even non-political ones, to push a political agenda is a shared technique.

• Joseph Goebbels: Masterfully orchestrated massive rallies, parades, and public ceremonies to display Nazi power and generate mass emotional fervor, transforming political meetings into quasi-religious experiences that demanded absolute loyalty to the *Führer*.
• Stephen Miller: His 2024 speech at a memorial service for Charlie Kirk was widely criticized for transforming a solemn event into a platform for "hateful display of white nationalist propaganda" and "civilizational warfare" rhetoric, echoing the Nazi technique of co-opting public life for ideological dissemination.

4. Centralized Control Over Narrative and Policy

Both men operated as central, controlling forces over their respective administrations' key narratives and policy implementation.

• Joseph Goebbels: As *Reichspropagandaleiter*, he held absolute authority over all forms of media, art, and public expression, ensuring a single, unified Nazi message permeated society.
• Stephen Miller: Miller was not a public-facing political figure like the President, but an indispensable policy architect. He was the key figure in shaping the administration's hardline immigration stance, ensuring that the President's public rhetoric and the actual policy (like the *Remain in Mexico* policy) were perfectly aligned, acting as a crucial filter and director of the "America First" narrative.

5. Affinity for White Nationalist and Racist Literature

The ideological grounding of their rhetoric shows a disturbing overlap in source material and worldview.

• Joseph Goebbels: His propaganda was explicitly rooted in the racist and *antisemitic* ideology laid out in Adolf Hitler's *Mein Kampf* and the broader framework of racial purity, which fueled the Holocaust.
• Stephen Miller: Leaked emails have shown Miller's alleged promotion of white nationalist literature and his obsession with "racist immigration stories," indicating a clear ideological affinity for the same core themes of racial and cultural purity that underpinned Goebbels's work. This connection suggests a shared ideological foundation for the structural methods of propaganda employed.

The Enduring Danger of Polarizing Rhetoric

The comparison between Stephen Miller and Joseph Goebbels is not merely historical mudslinging; it is an analytical framework used by political commentators to understand the function and danger of modern political communication. The core concern is the strategic use of fear, the creation of an existential enemy, and the relentless repetition of polarizing messages to bypass rational discourse and incite emotional, often hateful, action. The techniques pioneered by Goebbels—simplification, mass mobilization, and the *Big Lie*—demonstrate an enduring effectiveness, regardless of the political era. The ongoing debate surrounding Miller's influence serves as a critical warning that the structure of propaganda remains a potent threat to democratic institutions and civil society.