White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s speech at Sunday’s Charlie Kirk memorial in Phoenix drew comparisons from national security experts to rhetoric used in 1930s Germany.

Miller portrayed Kirk, who was killed earlier this month, as a martyr and symbol for the MAGA movement. He described the commentator’s death as the catalyst for what he called a struggle between good and evil.

The Steady State, a group of more than 330 former national security officials, likened Miller’s remarks to those made by Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.

Miller presented a tribute that “mirrors Goebbels’ 1932 speech with storm/warrior metaphors, ‘good vs evil’ binaries, and turning adversaries into destroyers while glorifying martyrdom,” the group charged.

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“In a climate marked by rising authoritarianism,” they wrote, “reviving fascist rhetoric is a red flag as it conditions the public for authoritarian rule.”

In follow up, the group added: “Miller casts the opposition as envy, hatred, and pure destruction. That’s not mobilization—it’s dehumanization. Defining half the country as wicked and illegitimate is the core of fascism: exile and exclusion, not democratic contest.”

Anders Åslund, an economist and former senior fellow at the Atlantic Council wrote simply: “This sounds like Goebbels’ speech at Horst Wessel’s funeral in 1930.” After his murder, Goebbels made Wessel into a martyr.

The New Republic characterized Miller’s speech “deranged,” reporting that “MAGA ‘patriots,’ Miller claimed, have inherited a civilizing mission from their ancestors. To continue this mission, save humanity, and continue the legacy of Kirk, he said, they must vanquish the ‘forces of darkness,’ their political opponents.”

“The speech was consistent with Miller’s white nationalist sympathies, penchant for unhinged rants against his political enemies, and apparent mission to use Kirk’s murder as a pretext for broader crackdowns,” wrote TNR’s Robert McCoy.

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Miller’s speech included sweeping language about martyrdom, ancestry, and a battle between light and darkness.

“The day that Charlie died, the angels wept, but those tears have been turned into fire in our hearts. And that fire burns with a righteous fury that our enemies cannot comprehend or understand.”

“The storm whispers to the warrior, that ‘You cannot withstand my strength,’ and the warrior whispers back, ‘I am the storm.’ Erica [Kirk] is the storm. We are the storm. And our enemies cannot comprehend our strength, our determination, our resolve, our passion.”

Miller talked about “our” “lineage” and “legacy” — presumably MAGA’s — hailing “back to Athens, to Rome, to Philadelphia, to Monticello.”

“Our ancestors built the cities. They produced the art and architecture. They built the industry.”

“The light will defeat the dark. We will prevail over the forces of wickedness and evil,” Miller declared. “They cannot imagine what they have awakened. They cannot conceive of the army that they have arisen in all of us. Because we stand for what is good, what is virtuous, what is noble. And to those trying to incite violence against us, those trying to foment hatred against us? What do you have? You have nothing. You are nothing. You are wickedness, you are jealousy, you are envy, you are hatred. You are nothing. You can build nothing. You can produce nothing. You can create nothing. We are the ones who build. We are the ones who create. We are the ones who lift up humanity. You thought you could kill Charlie Kirk? You have made him immortal.”

He did not specifically explain who “they” or “you” are.

Stephen Miller: “We will prevail over the forces of wickedness and evil. They cannot imagine what they have awakened…You thought you could kill Charlie Kirk? You have made him immortal!” pic.twitter.com/uMZfkmjSdF

— CSPAN (@cspan) September 21, 2025

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Image via Reuters

The Trump Social Security Administration Commissioner says raising the retirement eligibility age for Social Security recipients is being considered by the administration. Democratic lawmakers responded defiantly.

“I think everything’s being considered, will be, will be considered,” Commissioner Frank Bisignano told Fox Business on Friday when asked.

Bisignano insisted that the White House “is completely committed to protect and preserve” Social Security, but that “the generations that are coming in will probably have a difference set of rules than we had.”

Frank Bisignano is a former CEO of a U.S. multinational financial technology company, and appeared on a list of the highest-paid CEOs in the country, according to the AFL-CIO.

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During the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump vowed, “I will not cut one penny from Social Security or Medicare and I will not raise the retirement age by one day. Not for one day.”

Critics blasted the development.

“Republicans gave away trillions In tax cuts for the wealthy. Now they are asking Americans to work longer. We won’t stand for it,” wrote U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA).

“Trump’s cronies let the cat out of the bag. They’re ready to raise the retirement age. NOT ON MY WATCH! They want to cut your benefits and hand them over to Wall Street. We’re in a fight to save Social Security, and I’m not backing down. That’s a promise,” declared U.S. Rep. John Larson (D-CT).

Warren Gunnels, Minority Staff Director for the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member, Bernie Sanders (I-VT), wrote: “If Bernie’s Social Security bill was signed into law, Social Security would be solvent for the next 75 years, benefits would go up by $2,400 & the bottom 91% of Americans would not pay a penny more in taxes. Instead, Republicans want you to work until you drop dead.”

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Former Secretary of Labor, Professor Robert Reich, added: “A worker making $50,000 a year contributes to Social Security on 100% of their income. A CEO making $20 million a year contributes to Social Security on less than 1% of their income. Instead of raising the retirement age, we should scrap the Social Security tax cap.”

The Social Security tax cap, the amount that is subject to the Social Security tax, is $176,100.

According to Data for Progress, a progressive policy and polling organization, more Americans support lowering the Social Security retirement age than raising it or keeping it the same.

Fox Host: “Would you consider raising the retirement age?”

Trump’s Social Security Administration Commissioner: “I think everything is being considered, yeah.” pic.twitter.com/kdyVlyN7pX

— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) September 19, 2025

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President Donald Trump’s new addition to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, Stephen Miran, appeared to try to downplay the significant price increases Americans are seeing at grocery store checkout lines.

“Last month saw the biggest jump in grocery prices in almost three years,” NPR reported on Friday. “A survey this summer by The Associated Press and NORC found the cost of groceries has become a major source of stress for just over half of all Americans — outpacing rent, health care and student debt.”

Last week, Axios reported that grocery inflation is at the highest point “since 2022 as Trump tariffs pile up.”

“Virtually all major grocery categories are now more expensive than they were a year ago, some substantially so,” the news outlet reported. “Coffee is up 20.9% year-over-year, with a 3.1% monthly increase, per CPI. Uncooked beef steaks are up 16.6% year-over-year with a 3.3% monthly bump. While fruits and vegetable overall were up 2.3% year over year, apples rose 9.6% and bananas, 6.6%.”

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NPR also noted that despite “Trump’s promise to lower prices, the overall cost of groceries is higher now than when he was sworn in. The president’s crackdown on illegal immigration — including targeting people who pick and process our food — could add to upward pressure on prices. Trump’s tariffs are also contributing to higher prices for imported staples like bananas and coffee.”

Miran was asked about the price of bananas and coffee, specifically, on Friday during an interview with CNBC.

“But we are seeing prices move up for things like food at the grocery,” the host stated. “I mean, you can’t deny that the rising price of tomatoes or coffee or bananas, the things that we don’t grow here, are going up for consumers.”

Miran’s response: “Oh, there will always be relative price changes.”

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“Relative price changes” is an economic term having to do with supply and demand and other factors.

“There will always be relative price changes, but whether or not it’s inflation that’s macroeconomically significant of the type that monetary policy should respond to is a different question,” Miran concluded.

CNBC reported that Miran told the network “that he doesn’t anticipate President Donald Trump’s tariffs will cause inflation,” and that he “also said he believes Trump’s border policies will give rise to disinflation.”

Host: You can’t deny that the price of tomatoes or coffee or bananas, the things that we don’t grow here, are going up for consumers.

Trump’s Fed Governor: There will always be relative price changes pic.twitter.com/buxQnBujv4

— FactPost (@factpostnews) September 19, 2025

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