There are a lot of names you probably remember from Donald Trump’s first term that conjure up terrible memories. Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Kellyanne Conway, and a whole legion of just truly terrible people conspired to make our lives a living hell for four straight years. We had the audacity to think none of those names would resurface, however, if we defeated Trump in 2020.

Mostly that’s held true — Bannon’s busy with his podcast and Michael Flynn has been relegated to the ranks of QAnon. Kellyanne is a regular on the right-wing news circuit, but she certainly doesn’t hold the kind of position you might expect for the woman who basically got him elected the first time.

But there’s another name lurking in the back of your mind, and you can picture him in your head. He’s a virulent white supremacist. He’s got a barbed tongue in interviews. He spray-paints on hair when he feels like it. He’s Stephen Miller, and he’s been right beside Trump this whole time.

In fact, according to a new report from Wired, Republican insiders who are close to Trump describe the power dynamic in Donald’s White House very differently than what you and I see in the news.

It’s not just Stephen Miller, who served as one of Trump’s senior advisors in the first administration, pulling strings. He was influential during that term, devising immigration strategy and, like Musk, painting federal workers as a scourge — Miller was fond of calling even postal workers and forest rangers “radical left communists.”

It’s also Miller’s wife, Katie, who had her own role in the first administration, first as a deputy press secretary in Kirstjen Nielsen’s Department of Homeland Security, then as communications director for former Vice President Mike Pence.

And the joint role that the Millers now play together is turning out to be the mortar that keeps the Trump White House moving.

People have long known that Donald Trump is a figurehead. He is a demagogue who delights in praise from sycophants and feeds on the fear of his opponents — of whom there are many. For his myriad flaws, Trump is a very dynamic populist icon for a significant swath of the country.

But Trump is not a President, and he never has been. The advantage he gained in campaigning as a Washington “outsider” is exactly the thing that makes him unfit to actually create or enact policy. And what Trump thought he was doing when he onboarded Elon Musk was to essentially hand over the less fun duties of reshaping the government in the image of Project 2025.

In short, he wants to go play golf, and he actually seems put out when his First Buddy is too busy to join him, which isn’t often. I’m not sure Trump even wanted to be president this time around. He just didn’t want to go to jail, and the only way he could prevent that was to get back in the White House.

In fact, I’m sure that Trump is more than happy to let Elon be the “bad cop” in the current scenario. But Trump’s ego is far too massive to let anything popular be credited to anyone besides himself, and the country has been waiting on tenterhooks for the big blowup between Trump and Musk.

Have you wondered yet why it hasn’t come? It’s Stephen Miller.

The Republicans that Wired spoke to referred to Miller as the “Prime Minister” and Trump as merely the “Head of State.” Because Trump is the one that got elected, and Elon is the innovator coming up with all the (stupid) ideas, but neither one of them is suited to be President.

I’m not saying Stephen Miller is either — he’s objectively a sociopath. But he’s a lot better at all this government business than the reality show guy or the Space Nazi.

If Miller is the Trump whisperer, his wife Katie is the Muskologist with Elon’s ear. From the Wired piece:

She was assigned to run communications for Musk prior to the transition … Now she has become the richest man in the world’s guide to life in Washington and integral to the high-velocity, high-volume barrage of cuts to the government’s workforce and spending—many of them being questioned in the courts as to their legality—that have come to dominate Trump’s first month back in office.

Her relationship with Musk, the White House official says, is central to DOGE’s interactions with the rest of the White House. She’s the key intermediary, delivering the DOGE message of the day to the rest of the administration. She’s also the one to deliver any sensitive or bad news to Musk, says the official.

The Millers get it: Trump’s not actually in charge, but Musk is a manchild as well, so if we’re going to make this thing work, we have to (a) keep Trump mollified and (b) keep Musk on topic.

So, back to the Wired piece:

Yet through their actions so far, the Millers and Musk have developed a MAGA version of the Pet Shop Boys adage from the song “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)”: You’ve got the brawn / I’ve got the brains. Stephen Miller’s knowledge of the federal apparatus, Katie Miller’s contacts on Capitol Hill, and the couple’s good standing among Trump loyalists, coupled with Musk’s relentless ambition and effectively infinite resources, made the scale of the DOGE government takeover possible. Musk is not the independent actor he’s often portrayed as and taken to be, in other words, but is rather carrying out actions essentially in concert with the man to whom the president has delegated much of the day-to-day work of governance.

…Another Republican familiar with the dynamic also used the term “PM” to describe Miller, short for prime minister. The implication is that Miller is carrying out the daily work of governance while Trump serves as head of state, focusing on the fun parts of being president.

…The Millers are seen inside Trumpworld as glorified babysitters for Musk, tasked with ensuring he stays within bounds, insofar as that’s possible. “He gets a lot of grace,” the first Republican said of Musk. “Many people aren’t nervous, because Stephen Miller is deeply involved. And Katie.” This Republican compared Musk to a preteen child.

All of this makes perfect sense when you think about any single event in this term so far. Take the wildfires currently raging in the Carolinas. Both Trump AND Elon were at Mar-a-Lago partying it up, without a single word from the White House on the state of affairs. No reassurances from Elon that he hadn’t yet dismantled the arm of the federal government that would assist the disaster-stricken red states.

But when they come back around, you can absolutely expect there to be some robust answer and excuse for that; Stephen and Katie have been working on it since the catwalk video of Trump and Musk hit social media.

You can be sure of that.