"It's a 100% bluff": Cuts hamper Stephen Miller's war on the left

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“It’s a 100% bluff”: Cuts hamper Stephen Miller’s war on the left
Experts say Trump deputy chief of staff's “war” on the left is more performance than policy

By Russell Payne
Staff Reporter
Published October 24, 2025 6:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) As President Donald Trump and Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, gear up for a governmentwide attack on anti-fascist protesters and other political opponents, historians and those who have been on the receiving end of government-backed attacks on the left say that the administration’s efforts rely on fear and complicity.

Aaron Leonard, the author of multiple books documenting the lengths that the United States government has gone to suppress leftist political movements throughout its history, including “Menace of Our Time: The Long War Against American Communism” and “Heavy Radicals: The FBI’s Secret War on American Maoists,” explained that the federal government maintained a decades-long effort to monitor and dismantle leftist movements in the United States, ranging from anarchists to the Communist Party USA.

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Leonard also took note of the shift in language coming from the administration, specifically in how they have begun to call their political opponents “terrorists,” rather than Trump’s previous preferred term, the “radical left.”

“I think it’s a qualitative leap between calling somebody a radical leftist and a terrorist. You’re a terrorist. They can be executed summarily. That’s kind of the logic of it,” Leonard said.

In Leonard’s assessment, the best way to handle a push from the government to suppress the left is to show vocal opposition to the government’s efforts and not just their attacks on the left, but also their attacks on immigrants and even interference with media, as seen in the situation with comedian Jimmy Kimmel. ...................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/10/24/its-a-100-bluff-cuts-hamper-stephen-millers-war-on-the-left/