Hatemonger

Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda

By: Jean Guerrero

Narrated by: Frankie Corzo

“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 34-year-old’s astonishing rise to power, drawing from more than 100 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.

©2020 Jean Guerrero (P)2020 HarperAudio

Essential reading for Trump 2.0. Great research and detailed history of trump’s key policy advisor.

SNEAKY AI READER? this reader has such a predictable tone and repetitive meter it sounds like AI. I purposefully checked to make sure it was a human reader but I’m skeptical. Distracting reading of an excellent text.

Deplorable on purpose

All this, and I still don't understand the racist mentality that drives Miller. He apparently chose to embrace the worst, at every opportunity. That's about it. Interesting book, but ultimately just super depressing.

A linier horror show

While very well researched and written, it is a rather linier and boring account of what went through the press over the past three years.
Anyone who follows politics knows this story, for those who don’t and want to learn that a right wing extremist is advising the president, it’s a great read.

Very well researched

I wish people understood that the hype and fear over immigration is divised for specific reasons and who better, for the right, to create the narrative than someone who hates immigrants? Really interesting account of the behind the scenes immigration plan of the Trump Administration.

Intense

I learned a lot about the disaster that is Mr. Miller and am better able to understand pieces of his mind. I "enjoyed" the novel.
The only thing I would change was the narrator. She has a wonderful soothing voice; however I felt that it would have been more impactful in a stronger voice and tone.
Overall, a great "read."

Terrifying

Stephen Miller is revealed as the Count Dracula of the xenophobe nation. This well-researched biography explains much about how White Nationalism became the core principle of the Trump presidency. The book is truly frightening.

Exceptionally uncomfortable

Hard to listen to all the unnecessary deaths, suffering, pain and allegations of causal hatred, racism, bigotry and the like. Hard to hear this characterization of the division of my country by those who would seek to "save" it from threats that actually have not ever existed. Hard to realize that the awful behavior of rioters in our streets today is essentially a backlash against this behavior as it has ramped up over 4 short years, releasing pent up rage borne of pain and wiping away gains in civil rights that have come excruciatingly and unconscionably slowly over the last 150 years. Hard to face the facts and consequences of the nation's acceptance of and subsequent inability to heal from the deep wounds inflicted upon its very soul by institutional slavery. Hard to hold that responsibility. Hard to find hope for recovery. Impossible not to mourn.

Important story about Miller. Hard work to listen

I learned a lot about Stephen Miller but it was not all that pleasant to listen to. The beginning about his family background was too much information and the end was rather hurried with less detail than I wanted.
The narration underwhelmed me. A bit flat as if a student was being paid simply to read it in somewhat of a monotone. However I would recommend this audiobook to others.

The reading is genearlly excellent, but ..

The reader continuously drops "t"s, sounding like a middle school student.:"threa-end" for '"threatened', 'uncer-anty" for "uncertainty". Otherwise. great listen, and very scary. We barely dodged a bullet.

scary to imagine this is the USA

Interesting history of a really evil man. sounds like he needs to be flushed out quickly along with his boss