“A vital book for understanding the still-unfolding
nightmare of nationalism and racism in the 21st century.” ––Francisco Cantu,
author of The Line Becomes a River

Stephen Miller is one of the most influential advisors in
the White House. He has crafted Donald Trump’s speeches, designed immigration
policies that ban Muslims and separate families, and outlasted such Trump
stalwarts as Steve Bannon and Jeff Sessions. But he’s remained an enigma.Until now. Emmy- and PEN-winning investigative journalist
and author Jean Guerrero charts the thirty-four-year-old’s astonishing rise to
power, drawing from more than one hundred interviews with his family, friends,
adversaries, and government officials.Radicalized as a teenager, Miller relished provocation at
his high school in liberal Santa Monica, California. He clashed with
administrators and antagonized dark-skinned classmates with invectives against
bilingualism and multiculturalism. At Duke University, he cloaked racist and
classist ideas in the language of patriotism and heritage to get them airtime
amid controversies. On Capitol Hill, he served Tea Party congresswoman Michele
Bachmann and nativist Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions.Recruited to Trump’s campaign, Miller met his idol. Having
dreamed of Trump’s presidency before he even announced his decision to run,
Miller became his senior policy advisor and speechwriter. Together, they stoked
dystopian fears about the Democrats, “Deep State” and “American Carnage,”
painting migrants and their supporters as an existential threat to America.
Through backroom machinations and sheer force of will, Miller survived dozens
of resignations and encouraged Trump’s harshest impulses, in conflict with the President’s
own family. While Trump railed against illegal immigration, Miller crusaded
against legal immigration. He targeted refugees, asylum seekers and
their children, engineering an ethical crisis for a nation that once saw itself
as the conscience of the world. Miller rallied support for this agenda, even as
federal judges tried to stop it, by courting the white rage that found violent
expression in tragedies from El Paso to Charlottesville.

Hatemonger unveils the man driving some of the most
divisive confrontations over what it means to be American––and what America
will become.