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Why did Trump put the man who cost him the Congressional defeat in charge?

2026-11-10 17:18:45Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Why did Trump put the man who cost him the Congressional defeat in charge?

A president who has been rejected by voters may show flexibility, or he may indicate that he has no intention of doing so.

Donald Trump has chosen the second option and, in doing so, has revealed something essential about his top priorities – something that had remained unclear during the chaotic two years of his “administration.”

Vice President JD Vance attributes the Republican Party's deep losses in the midterm elections to the war with Iran, as well as the high cost of living, inflation and relations with Israel. Trump acknowledges that "Iran was part of the problem."

Other observers point to corruption and the scandalous fact that a family became rich while in power, at a time when citizens were paying ever-higher prices for fuel and food. These explanations are not wrong.

However, Trump's first move after the election highlights something that administration officials have not mentioned: voters rejected not what his administration did, but the essence of what it stands for.

In response to the voters' verdict, Trump appointed as chief of staff perhaps the most hated figure in an administration that, in any case, does not suffer from a lack of unpopular characters: Stephen Miller.

This appointment matters because Trump is not a president who governs. He simply holds office, puts on a show, and leaves the mechanics of the job to others. The chief of staff of such a president is not just an aide; he is a kind of prime minister. Susie Wiles was the one who ran everything.

With Trump showing signs of engaging even less than before, Miller could end up running the country — and run it the way he ran the hardline anti-immigration campaign: through executive orders, treating the law more as a barrier than a border.

Miller is not directly linked to the Iran debacle, the high prices, or the corruption. He did not draft the tariffs, and he is not on any cryptocurrency board. He is Trump’s top deportation man, the face of the campaign to find and remove undocumented immigrants — and he is the one who shaped that campaign into what it is today.

Miller set a quota of 3,000 arrests per day and pushed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain anyone without documents, not just those with criminal records.

The result was a style of policing the United States had not seen in living memory: masked agents in unmarked cars who picked up people on the street without identification and without warrants.

Fushata nuk i kurseu qytetarët: Renée Good dhe Alex Pretti u qëlluan për vdekje nga agjentët federalë në Minneapolis. Qindra të dëbuar u dërguan me aeroplan në vendet afrikane që nuk i kishin parë kurrë dhe u burgosën atje pa akuza. Ky është aparati i pangopur që ndërtoi Miller.

Operatori i tij i zellshëm tani mban zyrën më të fuqishme të pazgjedhur në SHBA. Votuesit e kishin gjykuar atë makinë djallëzore. Gjashtë në dhjetë u thanë sondazheve të daljes në pension se nuk e miratonin ICE. Votuesit hispanikë mbështetën demokratët me gati dy me një.

Pas emërimit të Miller, senatori Thom Tillis e quajti atë “zgjidhjen më të keqe të mundshme” dhe pyeti se si një figurë kaq përçarëse mund të ishte “dega e ullirit” për shumicat e reja demokrate, sikur Trump donte t’i ofronte një të tillë.

Trump nuk e humbi këtë logjikë shkakësore. Ai veproi sipas saj. Nëse do të donte ta promovonte Millerin pa u kapardisur me fyerjen ndaj elektoratit, ai mund të kishte pritur një muaj. Në vend të kësaj, ai e bëri emërimin tre ditë pas disfatës në mes të mandatit, me sondazhet e daljes ende në çdo ekran. Koha ishte mesazhi.

Madje Trump e tha këtë: Miller, shpjegoi ai, është “shumë i mirë politikisht”. Dëmi për republikanët në zgjedhjet e vitit 2028 është një çmim i parashikueshëm.

Duke e paguar atë, Trump po i tregon vendit se sa shumë ia vlen atij masakra e deportimeve: më shumë se Kongresi, më shumë se partia e tij, më shumë se votuesit hispanikë që ai shpenzoi në vitin 2024 duke i joshur. Vetëm një angazhim kaq i thellë mund të ketë një kosto kaq të madhe.

Prova erdhi po atë pasdite. Pak para njoftimit, Trump i kishte thënë emisionit informativ “60 Minutes" se politika e dëbimeve “mund të jetë tepër e ashpër” dhe hodhi idenë e një marrëveshjeje me demokratët për t’u lejuar punëtorëve që janë vendosur prej kohësh në vend, të qëndrojnë.

Më pas, ai ia besoi Shtëpinë e Bardhë arkitektit të pikërisht asaj politike nga e cila sapo ishte distancuar. Nuk kishte asnjë kontradiktë. Fjalët ishin për gazetarin; fyerja ishte për votuesit. Ai e pranoi diagnozën, por hodhi poshtë kurën – pikërisht në këtë renditje. Ky emërim nxjerr në pah kufizimet e stilit të ashtuquajtur “transaksional” të Trumpit.

Një politikan transaksional përpiqet të minimizojë humbjet. Ai heq dorë nga një “aset” në momentin që ky pushon së sjelli përfitime; dhe Trump ka hequr dorë nga shumë të tillë: gjeneralë, avokatë, ministra të kabinetit, shefa të stafit – të cilët i ndërroi me një ritëm prej një në vit gjatë mandatit të tij të parë.

Në terma thjesht zgjedhorë, Milleri është një aset që nuk sjell më përfitime. Ngritja e tij në detyrë nuk është një transaksion. Nuk ka të bëjë aspak me politikën zgjedhore. Gjithashtu, nuk është as ndonjë llogaritje në lidhje me dy vitet që i kanë mbetur.

Trump lives within the news cycle, and on election night, that news cycle brought his humiliation. Voters had told him — in the clearest language a democracy knows — what they thought of his administration. Miller’s appointment was his impulsive response.

He settled his score with the electorate — the only opponent he can’t impeach, impeach, or expel — the only way he could: by showing them that their verdict hadn’t changed him at all. Miller has been called “the ideological id of the MAGA movement.”

Trump didn't promote a strategist. He promoted "id."

So what is Trump defending? Miller has told us.

According to him, immigration brings foreign cultures and belief systems; and unless deportations are carried out in the millions, the country will be irreversibly transformed. He has worked to limit birthright citizenship – the constitutional guarantee that makes anyone born in the US an American.

At its core, the campaign he runs is not about who has violated immigration laws, but about who has a place in the United States. And its message goes far beyond the people the government can legally deport. Tens of millions of citizens are being told that, even though their documents are in order, their right to be a part of this country is invalid.

Trump is not deaf. Instead of abandoning a terrible policy that the public has firmly rejected, he has put in charge the architect of a violent campaign aimed at destroying the country's multiracial democracy.

Miller's promotion also shows Republicans how much their future is worth to him. Lindsey Graham, earlier this year, warned them: "To my colleagues who believe they can convince Donald Trump that Stephen Miller is a liability to him — good luck with that."

To win in 2028, Republicans need to bring back Hispanic voters who left precisely because of the man Trump just named as his chief of staff. Trump will no longer be on the ballot. They will. Good luck with that. Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution called Miller’s nomination an insulting gesture — like raising the middle finger — to the American public. It is also a confession. In defeat, one discovers what one cannot give up.

In principle, Trump could give up war, tariffs, even money. But he couldn't give up moral degeneration.

It is this castle that he will defend to the end.

Stephen Holmes - Project Syndicate 


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