Trump advisors amp up attacks on political foes

Stephen Miller speaks of using 'state power to dismantle terrorism and terror networks.'

- MICHAEL WILNER AND ANA CEBALLOS

WHITE House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has said the president has unchecked authority to protect federal lives and property.

EVAN VUCCI Associated Press

President Trump rocked American politics at the outset of his first campaign when he first labeled his rivals as enemies of the American people. But the rhetoric of his top confidants has grown more extreme in recent days.

Stephen Miller, the president's deputy chief of staff, declared over the weekend that "a large and growing movement of leftwing terrorism in this country" is fueling a historic national schism, "shielded by far-left Democrat judges, prosecutors and attorneys general."

"The only remedy," Miller said, "is to use legitimate state power to dismantle terrorism and terror networks."

It was a maxim from an unelected presidential advisor who is already unleashing the federal government in unprecedented ways, overseeing the federalization of police forces and a sweeping deportation campaign challenging basic tenets of civil liberty.

Miller's rhetoric comes amid a federal crackdown on Portland, Ore., where he says the president has unchecked authority to protect federal lives and property — and as another controversial Trump advisor harnesses an ongoing government shutdown as pretext for the mass firing of federal workers.

Russ Vought, the president's director of the Office of Management and Budget, plays the Grim Reaper in an AI video shared by the president, featuring him roving Washington for bureaucrats to cut from the deep state during the shutdown.

His goal, Trump has said, is to specifically target Democrats.

As of Monday afternoon, it was unclear exactly how many federal workers or what federal agencies would be targeted.