Stephen Miller is no Susie Wiles: He believes in almost limitless presidential power, considers the Democratic Party an extremist organization, and dreams of ruthless crackdowns on immigration and foreign adversaries, Axios' Marc Caputo and Alex Isenstadt report.

Why it matters: Miller, who starts Monday as the new White House chief of staff, is unlike any of his five predecessors who have held the job during Trump's two terms — and unlike anyone who has held the powerful position in the modern era.

• Miller puts the hard in hard-liner, and understands how to pull the levers of power to get his way and make the U.S. government a MAGA machine.

💥 Miller's appointment sets the stage for two years of partisan warfare with the new Dem-led Congress, which is likely to launch investigations of Trump's administration, political committees and allies.

• "Stephen is Trump's wartime consigliere," Roger Stone, one of the president's oldest friends and advisers, told Axios.

The big picture: Despite his post-midterm comments about finding ways to work with Democrats, Trump's choice of Miller signals that the president isn't looking for truces. He's prepping for war, and sees Miller as a brass-knuckle general and tactical expert impervious to criticism or traditional restraints.

The 41-year-old Miller — Trump's MAGA brain for a decade — has detailed his Miller Doctrine in speeches, policies and press conferences:

1. 🏛️ Presidential power is "very substantial and will not be questioned." Miller said those words about Trump's Muslim travel ban in 2017 on CBS' "Face the Nation." But to him, they broadly apply to other areas of the executive's authority.
2. ⚖️ Court authority is limited. In May 2025, when courts blocked aspects of Trump's deportation policies, Miller said the rulings were the work of "radical rogue judges" who were "at war" with the executive and legislative branches.
3. 🫏 The political opposition is a threat to America. "The Democrat Party is not a political party. It is a domestic extremist organization," Miller told Sean Hannity in August 2025. Miller also warned that if Democrats won Congress, "it's game over." They just won it.
4. 🛡️ Homeland security is the nation's spine. A key architect of the administration's hard-line immigration policies, Miller said in a March speech: "Our national security, our homeland security, the safety and well-being of our people begins at home, begins in our neighborhood, begins in our home region."
5. 🪖 America should use "hard power" in the Western Hemisphere. "The cartels that operate in this hemisphere are the ISIS and the al-Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere, and should be treated just as brutally and just as ruthlessly as we treat those organizations," Miller said in the same speech, to foreign leaders at the Shield of the Americas conference.

Between the lines: Trump advisers see Miller's elevation as a way to reenergize the president's populist base, which failed to turn out in sufficient numbers for the midterms — and in some cases voted for Democrats.

• Advisers point to Trump's handling of the Epstein files and his decision to attack Iran — which in turn escalated fuel prices — as reasons he lost support among those voters.
• Without winning them back, Republicans say, they'll have no chance in the 2028 elections.
• Critics also fault the harsh immigration enforcement championed by Miller, as well as voters' perceptions of corruption in Trump's administration, as additional drags on Republicans.

👀 Miller's allies dismiss questions about his management experience, noting that he has overseen the Department of Homeland Security and regularly runs morning meetings with the White House staff focused on immigration policy.

• With Trump's legislative agenda effectively stalled, Miller's allies argue he is particularly well suited to a White House that will increasingly rely on executive orders and legal battles — areas in which Miller has extensive experience.

But some critics worry that Miller's elevation could mean Trump turns Miller's hard-line immigration agenda into a centerpiece of his final two years in office — something that could continue to alienate independent and moderate voters, as it appeared to do in the midterms.

• Trump's administration and supporters expect the criticism and are unfazed.
• "It's Miller Time," said another Trump adviser. "Buckle up."

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Democrats' midterm gains extended deep into the machinery of state government: They swept every statewide executive office on the ballot in Texas, Georgia, Nevada, Wisconsin and Arizona, Axios' Andrew Pantazi reports.

• Why it matters: These low-profile victories will shape what millions of Americans pay for electricity, what their kids read in class and which party runs the 2028 presidential election in key states.

🖼️ The big picture: The Democratic gains reach offices that decide which policies advance, which don't and which get challenged in court.

• Attorneys general: Nathan Johnson in Texas and Tanya Miller in Georgia will decide when their states sue the Trump administration and what corporations they investigate.
• Secretaries of state: Democrats flipped these offices in Georgia, Ohio and Indiana, putting new officials in charge of running the 2028 presidential election there.
• Texas' lieutenant governor: Vikki Goodwin will preside over the Senate, where the lieutenant governor picks committee chairs and decides which bills get a hearing.

Between the lines: Some offices are hyper-specific and rarely command national attention, but they have a big influence on the issues Democrats championed this election.

• 💡 Utility bills: Shelia Edwards' victory and Peter Hubbard's reelection give Democrats a 3–2 majority on Georgia's Public Service Commission, which sets utility rates and approves long-term electricity plans, putting Democrats in charge of decisions that affect the climate and affordability.
• ⛽ Oil and gas: Jon Rosenthal's victory breaks Republicans' monopoly on Texas' three-member Railroad Commission, which, despite its name, regulates oil and gas production and pipeline safety.
• 🎒 Classrooms: Democrats won three Republican-held Texas State Board of Education seats and lead in a fourth that would change the majority. Publishers have historically tailored the nation's textbooks to the Texas board's conservative curriculum standards. It recently adopted social studies changes that Muslim advocacy groups criticized as discriminatory.

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Vice President Vance has spent the past two weeks personally involved in indirect talks with Iran aimed at reaching a new ceasefire and resuming nuclear negotiations, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.

• Why it matters: Vance's heavy involvement shows he's taking it upon himself to extract the U.S. from a conflict he blamed for the GOP's staggering losses in this week's election.
• It also elevates the latest round of indirect talks to the highest levels of the administration.

🔎 State of play: U.S. officials and regional sources say that, for now, Trump is willing to let diplomatic efforts play out and wants to see if any kind of deal is possible.

• But if he changes his mind, the U.S. military is ready to launch strikes on a relatively short timetable.

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If you had to pick one political advertisement to sum up voters' biggest economic beef heading into the midterms, it might have been the one about, well, beef, Axios' Emily Peck reports.

• A viral spot for Mississippi's Democratic Senate candidate, Scott Colom, skewers a gaffe by the incumbent, Sen. Cindy Hyde‑Smith (R-Miss.), that people should simply "pick another protein" to deal with higher beef prices. (Colom is slightly ahead but the race remains too close to call.)

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Refrigerator hacks. $6.3 billion crypto heists. 14-country espionage campaigns carried out in just 11 days. All in the span of a week.

• Why it matters: State-backed hackers are finding new ways to launch cyberattacks at remarkable speed and scale — and AI threatens to give attackers an even greater edge over defenders, Axios' Sam Sabin reports.

🥑 Driving the news: Hackers tampered with refrigeration systems at dozens of European grocery stores in one night earlier this week — raising temperatures and spoiling food in a sweeping attack some linked to Russia.

• French blood banks were also affected in the attacks on European refrigeration systems, authorities said Wednesday.
• The Pentagon has also been investigating a series of suspected hacks of refrigeration systems on its military bases over the summer. Nextgov reported that investigators suspect Iran was behind those attacks.

🔬 Zoom in: No clear evidence has yet linked the attack on food supply to AI or automation, but hackers have used those tools in other breaches to speed up operations.

• North Korean hackers behind last week's record-setting Binance heist also likely used automation to move stolen cryptocurrency and cover their tracks, according to Chainalysis.
• China-linked hackers used an AI-powered tool called Artex to target more than 200 organizations across 14 countries in just 11 days last month, CrowdStrike found.

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Tesla's futuristic Cybertruck got off to a rocky start when its supposedly unbreakable windows shattered during a 2019 demonstration. Seven years later, the polarizing pickup appears headed for the scrap heap.

• Why it matters: The stainless-steel, sharp-edged behemoth attracted plenty of attention, but not enough buyers, Axios transportation correspondent Joann Muller writes.

🛻 Driving the news: Elon Musk says Tesla will wind down Cybertruck production next year to make room for its autonomous Cybercab.

• Musk once envisioned selling at least 250,000 Cybertrucks annually. Sales peaked below 40,000 in 2024 and have been falling ever since.

Tesla recalled the Cybertruck 11 times, including twice to reattach stainless steel trim pieces that could fly off while driving.

• Neither the truck's $39,900 price target nor its promised 500-mile driving range ever materialized. Most buyers paid closer to $100,000.

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A federal court has temporarily blocked groundbreaking for President Trump's towering memorial arch. But pushing ahead, he launched a glitzy website yesterday that rebrands the arch as a military tribute: The United States Military Triumphal Arch.

• The 250-foot-tall complex is slated to rise in a mass of blindingly gold ornamentation and stately gray granite on the Virginia side of the Potomac River, between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, AP reports.

The website features the huge word "Triumph" in gold cursive script reminiscent of the typeface used at Mar-a-Lago.

• "Inside the two massive columns will be storage for munitions," the website says. "In addition, areas on the pedestal and Observation Deck will be set aside for snipers, countersnipers, and provisions for a sniper nest. Likewise, the open ground area at the base of the Monument will be designed for launching drones and other homeland security assets, if and when necessary."

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For "Sea Change," the cover of next week's issue of The New Yorker, famed illustrator Barry Blitt drew six Democrats — James Talarico, Abdul El-Sayed, Keisha Lance Bottoms, Amy Acton, Troy Jackson and Gina Hinojosa — riding the midterms' blue wave.

• Blitt says: "The greatest relief is to finally have some new faces to draw."

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