Stephen Miller’s exchange with Jim Acosta on Wednesday was horrific yet familiar.
Women know Stephen Miller. Stephen Miller is that asshole you meet on Tinder, who wants to send you a message so he can let you know your pictures from the Women’s March are really sexist against men. The kind of guy who says, “WELL ACTUALLY,” or, “Let me play devil’s advocate here,” before blatantly insulting you and your intelligence. The one who says your name in a way you can almost see the your name in italics (and maybe all caps) coming out of his mouth ― over and over. He’s the guy who walks up to you at a bar, hits on you in the most obnoxious manner possible, asks you questions, and proceeds to spin your basic beliefs into a web of bullshit. He’s the smug jerk who pretends to not understand phrases that are commonly used in the vernacular. Instead, he takes every comment you say completely literally and suggests you are the dumb one for speaking like a human and not a robot. He’s the kind of racist asshole that he makes you out to be a racist monster ― and all you said was, “Hey, I think that black lives matter.”
“Well, actually, Manda, it’s pretty racist that you even see race. Manda, why do you have to bring race into it? And that just shows me, Manda, that you are being racist against everyone who isn’t black, and you’re racist against black people, Manda, because you’re acting like they can’t take care of themselves and need a slogan. And, Manda, just to play devil’s advocate, but maybe cops kill black people more because more of them are criminals.” (Insert self satisfied smirk.)
Clearly, I’ve been tricked into a first date with a Stephen Miller or two. You live, you learn, you more obsessively Google first dates, swipe left more, and life goes on.
Except we can’t just swipe left or abandon our seat at the bar to get rid of him ― because insufferable Stephen Miller is a top White House advisor. And life can’t go on for everyone ― Miller might have pretended to not understand that Acosta was using hyperbole when he asked if the English requirement meant the U.S. would only admit people from the U.K. or Australia, but don’t be fooled: that is Stephen Miller’s wet dream.
It’s truly remarkable how many interviews and statements given by or about members of this administration sound frighteningly similar to things sexual harassers or abusers say to women. If only we had had some kind of clue indicating how horrible a Trump presidency would be...