Responding to Midterm Election Losses Trump Promotes Fascist Stephen Miller Chief of Staff
By David Sole, November 11, 2026, https://fighting-words.net/
The midterm elections showed a profound shift among the population away from the Trump/MAGA ultra-right program. Democratic Party candidates prevailed in so many previously Republican strongholds that both the US Senate and House of Representatives will have Democrats in the majority, assuming they are seated in January 2027. Much can be said of what the elections mean, what the Democrats may do and what an aroused population should do in the coming months. But the burning question is – will election denier, January 6 insurrection instigator, racist Donald Trump accept this year’s election results?
Several developments in the days following November 3 should worry progressive forces. The biggest indicator is that Trump has replaced his White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, elevating fascist Stephen Miller to this powerful position.
Miller, age 41, rose from a Trump speech writer to serve as White House deputy chief of staff and homeland security advisor. In the first Trump administration he was the proponent of taking children away from undocumented immigrants and Trump’s Muslim travel ban. He is described as ultraconservative and an extreme white nationalist. Trump once remarked that Miller’s vision is to slash the US population down to only 100 million white people.
Miller is also an advocate for National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7) a directive to all government agencies and law enforcement bodies to investigate, disrupt, arrest and prosecute any and all groups and individuals who have views that differ from those of Donald Trump. The New York Civil Liberties Union warned in December 2025 “based on the list of political views the document targets, the Trump administration could use NSPM-7 to go after pretty much anyone who isn’t a MAGA faithful.” https://www.nyclu.org/
A November 7 Trump social media posting called for the Department of Justice to prosecute Democratic Party officials who, following their election sweep, have publicly warned Republicans they will be the subject of Congressional investigation and/or impeachment. There have already been targeted prosecutions of groups of people who are progressive activists. They include the Minneapolis 12, the University of Michigan 12, the president of the UofM Graduate Employees’ Organization and the Prairieland Defendants.
Over the past decade hundreds of MAGA fanatics have become local and state election officials. Passed experience should warn us that they may refuse to certify some election results.
Will the current Republican leaders of the two houses of Congress refuse to seat elected Democrats come January 2027? Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson refused to seat Adelita Grijalva who was elected to the House of Representatives on September 23, 2025. Grijalva was a Democrat from Arizona’s 7th congressional district. Johnson delayed her swearing in for until November 12, fifty days later. Johnson was trying to prevent her from signing the discharge petition aimed to force the release the Epstein files.
Some Republicans have suggested that elected officials who are members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), an organization that is part of the Democratic Party, should not be allowed to take their seats in January. In fact, US Representative Rich McCormick (R-GA) introduced bill, H.R. 10501, to amend the 1954 Communist Control Act to include DSA members in that bill’s ban on Communist Party members holding office.
After the experience of the January 6, 2021, insurrectionary attack on Congress at Trump’s urging, no one should underestimate the possibility of an outright coup by Donald Trump. He certainly has solidified his control over the armed forces with white supremacist Pete Hegseth in charge of the Department of Defense. Numerous top military officers have also been purged in the past two years.
Rightwing forces have already scheduled a “Million Crusader March” in Washington, D.C. for January 3, 2027 the day the new Congress members are to be sworn in.
Progressive forces, currently euphoric about the electorate’s rejection of Trump supporters, should not be complacent and expect a smooth transition between now and January 3. Preparations should begin now to mobilize the public to the very real dangers, to educate and alert all military personnel to their duty to disobey illegal orders and organize trade unions to prepare for a general strike in case it is needed to defeat a Trump coup.