Newsom Slams Stephen Miller as "About Cruelty and Chaos," Citing Families Hurt by ICE Raids

California Governor Gavin Newsom sharply criticized White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, saying the aide is "about cruelty and chaos" during an interview with Gen Z commentator Jack Cocchiarella. Newsom emphasized that his judgment is based on Miller's public actions rather than any personal acquaintance.

He focused his criticism on Miller's advocacy for aggressive immigration enforcement and ICE raids, which Newsom said have torn families apart. "Quite literally, people are disappearing," Newsom said. "The screams. You can't unhear what you hear or see in these videos of moms that are losing family members. Those screams are real."

"I have nothing good to say about him, period," Newsom added, repeating his earlier comparison of Miller to a Harry Potter villain and stressing the human toll of enforcement actions he associates with Miller's policies.

To illustrate the alleged impact, Newsom recounted conversations with young people: a 16-year-old who could not look him in the eye after both parents "disappeared" from longtime jobs packing vegetables, and a 15-year-old with disabilities who reportedly told Newsom that Border Patrol put a gun to his head while he waited for his sister to cross the street near their Los Angeles school. "That's Stephen Miller," Newsom said, attributing responsibility for such outcomes to Miller's rhetoric and policy priorities.

Newsom said he would "withhold" harsh criticism of Miller's wife, Katie Miller, and her podcast out of respect for the family, despite noting its lineup of prominent MAGA guests such as Speaker Mike Johnson and Pete Hegseth. The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.

On Trumpism and the Movement's Future

Turning to the broader political landscape, Newsom argued that "there's no Trumpism without Trump," calling it a "cult of personality" rather than a coherent ideology. He suggested that figures like JD Vance and Marco Rubio "can't operate at that level like Trump" and predicted that the coalition built around Trump would struggle to hold together amid infighting — pointing to disputes over right-wing broadcasters like Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro as evidence the movement is "fraying."

Bottom line: Newsom framed his critique as a moral condemnation of policies he sees as causing real harm to families, while also dismissing the idea that the Trump-aligned movement can survive intact without its central figure.