Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, reportedly fired back at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday after the New York Democrat mocked his height and labeled him a “clown.”
The exchange highlighted the ongoing tension between outspoken progressive lawmakers and senior officials in the Trump administration.
“Well, we knew that her brain didn’t work,” Miller told Fox News host Laura Ingraham on “The Ingraham Angle.” “Now we know that her eyes don’t work. So, she’s a mess, right? What a trainwreck. What a trainwreck.” Miller added that Ocasio-Cortez’s frequent television appearances seem only to boost Republican approval, noting, “Every time she’s on TV, Republican approval ratings go up, Democratic approval ratings go down. That lady is a walking nightmare.” Miller clarified his own height, telling Ingraham he is five feet, ten inches tall, countering Ocasio-Cortez’s ridicule.
Ocasio-Cortez, appearing on an Instagram livestream Sunday, had disparaged Miller and other Trump administration officials, claiming that laughter was the best form of resistance. “The point is that they are scraping and grasping at straws because they have nothing else,” she said. “Laugh at them, Stephen Miller is a clown! I’ve never seen that guy in real life, but he looks like he’s, like, [4 feet, 10 inches tall]. He looks like he is angry about the fact that he’s [4 feet, 10 inches] and he has taken that anger out on any other population possible. Like, laugh at them.” She also suggested Miller’s political style stemmed from “insecure masculinity,” asserting, “One of the best ways you can dismantle a movement of insecure men is by making fun of them, by having secure men who aren’t afraid of successful people around them who are also participating in that as well.”
Miller, who has been a central figure in shaping the administration’s policies, dismissed Ocasio-Cortez’s barbs as irrelevant, using the opportunity to underscore her perceived lack of substance.
His comments to Ingraham followed a series of contentious exchanges in which he defended administration actions and policies from what he called “despicable lies” propagated by congressional Democrats.
The confrontation comes amid other high-profile clashes between Miller and progressive Democrats.
On Sunday, he rebuked Rep. Dan Goldman after the New York Democrat accused Miller of doxing a South Carolina judge whose home was reportedly targeted in an arson attack. Miller called Goldman’s claims “deeply warped and vile” and defended the administration’s efforts to combat illegal threats and political violence.
Ocasio-Cortez and Miller have frequently clashed both on social media and in the press.
She has been a vocal critic of the government shutdown and other Republican policies, while he has leveraged these moments to reinforce conservative messaging and push back against what he considers frivolous attacks.
The public exchange over Miller’s height is part of a broader pattern in which prominent Democrats have attempted to personalize attacks on senior officials, a tactic conservatives argue distracts from substantive policy debates.
Miller’s response, emphasizing both his professional credentials and composure under attack, demonstrates the administration’s strategy of turning personal attacks into political advantage.
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