A reelected GOP congressman went on national television and said what the midterms already made obvious: the architect of the agenda voters just rejected should have been fired, not handed the most powerful staff job in Washington.
Republican Rep. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana said Sunday that Stephen Miller should have been fired rather than promoted to White House chief of staff, telling CNN’s Manu Raju on Inside Politics that elevating Miller was “a bad mistake.” When Raju asked directly whether Miller should be fired, Stutzman answered yes.
The rebuke landed one day before Miller formally took over the job. Donald Trump announced the promotion on Truth Social on Friday, calling Miller “one of my most trusted advisors” and moving outgoing chief of staff Susie Wiles to his political operation. The announcement came just three days after voters handed Democrats control of both chambers of Congress in a midterm rout.
You Have To Fire People
Stutzman framed his objection in the language Trump claims to understand. A team that takes a beating as badly as Republicans took last week, he told Raju, means “you have to fire people,” not promote the ones in charge of delivering results that never came.
He also warned that Miller is a liability far beyond Washington, saying Midwest voters simply “don’t like his tone.” Stutzman argued Miller is better suited to fighting Democrats inside the beltway than serving as a voice to the American people, and in separate comments reported by Semafor, he called the appointment a horrible decision.
Stutzman knows something about surviving a wave. He won another term in Indiana’s 3rd District even as Republicans lost dozens of House seats, but his vote share collapsed from 65% in 2024 to under 55% this year.
A Promotion Built On A Rejected Agenda
Miller is the architect of the administration’s mass deportation campaign and the family separation policy of Trump’s first term, and he unsuccessfully sought to end birthright citizenship after returning to the White House in 2025. Voters delivered their verdict on that record on Nov. 3, when Democrats flipped seven GOP Senate seats in Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas while sweeping the House.
The backlash was sharpest among the voters Miller’s agenda targeted; Hispanic voters who backed Trump in 2024 swung decisively toward Democrats, especially in Texas. Rather than change course, Trump responded by giving the face of that agenda control of the entire West Wing.
Stutzman is not alone inside his party. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, one of Miller’s sharpest Republican critics, called the elevation a “colossal mistake,” and outgoing Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska said the pick was not a good choice.
Democrats Are Ready For Him
Hakeem Jeffries, who is poised to become House speaker in January, called Miller “a dangerous xenophobe and reckless extremist who has American blood on his hands” and demanded Trump fire him immediately. Rep. Robert Garcia, in line to chair the House Oversight Committee, said Democrats will investigate Miller’s immigration policies and advised him to lawyer up.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Trump “couldn’t have made a worse choice” and promised the incoming Democratic majorities will fight Miller at every step. Those majorities take office on Jan. 3, which means the man Republicans are already blaming for their wipeout will spend the next two years running a White House under subpoena power he helped create the appetite for.
