Insiders say Trump’s 'incendiary' advisor 'knows that the clock is ticking'

07 January

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller from Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., January 3, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

One of Donald Trump's most "incendiary" and influential advisors is said to behave the way he does because he "knows that the clock is ticking," an insider source told The Atlantic in a new report, which also revealed him as one of the leading voices behind the White House's decisions surrounding Venezuela and Greenland.

On Wednesday, The Atlantic published a profile of Stephen Miller, Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, and a behind-the-scenes advisor said to have a hand in nearly everything the administration has done in the last year. The piece focused heavily on Miller's tendency to lash out at agencies and individuals who do not meet his standards, describing him as a "browbeater, inquisitor, and bully," who "accepts no excuses, entertains no dissent."

One anonymous senior official who has participated in one of Miller's heated daily conference calls gave their assessment of Miller's motivations.

"He pushes everybody to the absolute limit because he knows that the clock is ticking,” the official said. “He gets on the phone and he yells at everybody. Nobody is spared from his wrath."

What the official specifically meant by "the clock is ticking" was not elaborated on, whether it be a general demand for quick progress or a sense that things must be accomplished before Trump's power slips away. The president's increasing unpopularity with voters and Democrats overperforming in nearly every recent election has many in the GOP worried that its majorities in Congress are done for in the 2026 midterms, with others saying the trend has rendered Trump a "lame duck."

Whatever the reason, Miller's influence within the administration remains prominent, with The Atlantic's profile singling him out as a major voice pushing for the recent military strike in Venezuela and capture of its president, Nicolás Maduro.

"We are a superpower, and under President Trump, we are going to conduct ourselves as a superpower," Miller said about the operation during a contentious Tuesday interview with CNN.

During the same appearance, Miller also generated headlines when he defended the possibility of Trump authorizing the use of military force to seize control of Greenland, a goal he has expressed publicly since his first administration. The deputy chief of staff suggested that the US could do such a thing because no other country would be willing to stand up to the US military in such a scenario, a notion that ran afoul of international law and US involvement with NATO. Miller's wife, Katie, also shared an image on social media of Greenland overlayed with the American flag, following the Venezuela operation.

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