Stephen Miller Is Destroying the Great America Trump Is Trying to Make

At the beginning of Time’s painfully disjointed interview with Donald Trump on September 28, they asked him about his meeting with Dario Amodei and the AI summit he had scheduled the next day. Trump repeatedly dodged the question of who he was meeting with, Trump did know one thing: “We’re the most advanced, we have the, we have the smartest people. And tomorrow I have a big meeting. We have everybody.” But my attitude is, we’re winning against the world by a lot, and I want to keep winning. There are those that say it’s bigger than the industrial revolution, and you would think not. But actually, if you look at the numbers—you ever see these numbers? They’re like, they’re like straight up in the air. And from our standpoint, we have trillions of dollars being invested in our country because it’s probably the biggest business there is. We’re the most advanced, we have the, we have the smartest people. And tomorrow I have a big meeting. We have everybody. All the—Dario’s coming back. I’m curious what exactly is going on with all these meetings with these AI leaders. Well, look, you know, this isn’t like I’m building a building, which I can do out of my back pocket. It’s easier to do that for me, and it’s what I’ve been doing. This is a whole new world, probably mostly good, but some bad too. And it’s a very powerful world. It’s a very—potentially really could be good for medical. I mean, some of the things they’re coming up with now that they never even thought about. But with good comes bad, and we want them, we want all of them to behave for themselves. Tomorrow’s meeting. What time is that meeting tomorrow? Two? Natalie Harp: Noon, in the East Room. Trump: So we have everybody. Give me a list of the people at the meeting. [snip] You’ve said there’s going to be an AI force that you announced? Yeah, but I’m going to change the name. What is it going to do? It’s going to be super intelligence. What will it do? Because it’s much more accurate. It’s going to be a group of very smart people that understand it, who will be advising me. But I will tell you right now, I’m not going to be easy because I’m not going to kill a thing based on phony threats. They said that our country was going to burn down because of global warming. Then they changed the name to climate change because global warming wasn’t going. They said that we are going to have some of the most difficult times ever. Global warming turned out to be a hoax. Russia, Russia, Russia was a hoax. Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine. It’s a pretty interesting comment, because of the 20 visitors at that meeting, 11 are immigrants, most coming in via student visas of the sort Trump’s twin wars on immigrants and universities has absolutely destroyed (I’m only counting people with institutional affiliations and even there, there’s another error in Brandon Daniels’ name, because Trump’s staffers are slovenly dopes), two were raised by immigrants. Elon Musk famously illegally immigrated, using a student visa to start working in the US. This is the world Trump wants America to be. And Stephen Miller is destroying that America. Update: Number of visitors corrected. 1. Shyam Sankar: Born in India, immigrated as a child with his working class father. Sankar’s dad was born in a mud hut in Tamil Nadu in southern India and was the first person in his family to attend college, studying pharmacy. Shyam was born in Mumbai but lived in Lagos, Nigeria, as an infant. When he was 2, the family relocated to Orlando, Florida, where they initially ran a successful souvenir business for theme parks and later a dry-cleaning business that went bankrupt, Sankar wrote. After graduating with engineering degrees from Cornell University and Stanford University, Sankar turned down a job offer at a consulting company to join a startup — Xoom Corp. — at the encouragement of his father. “My father urged me to take the risk and fight the machine and gave his blessing,” he recounted. After two years at Xoom, Sankar signed on as Palantir’s first business hire. 2. Chamath Palihapitiya: Born in Sri Lanka, moved to Canada as a refugee. Chamath Palihapitiya was born on 3rd September 1976, in Sri Lanka. At the age of 6, his family moved to Canada as refugees. His mother was a housekeeper but later became a nurse’s aide while his father was constantly unemployed. He recalls spending cold nights on a mattress in a small living room. When the time came to return to their motherland Sri Lanka, Chamath’s father applied for a refugee visa. When he was 14, his family lived on welfare, forcing him to work at Burger King. While working part-time to support his family, he attended Lisgar Collegiate Institute and graduated at 17. In 1999, he graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in electrical engineering. 3. Greg Brockman: Born in North Dakota. Brockman, 31, grew up on a hobby farm in North Dakota and had what he describes as a “focused, quiet childhood.” He milked cows, gathered eggs, and fell in love with math while studying on his own. In 2008, he entered Harvard intending to double-major in math and computer science, but he quickly grew restless to enter the real world. He dropped out a year later, entered MIT instead, and then dropped out again within a matter of months. The second time, his decision was final. Once he moved to San Francisco, he never looked back. 4. Satya Nadella: Born in India. Came to the US for grad school. Nadella grew up in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad and studied electrical engineering at Mangalore University (B.Sc., 1988). After moving to the United States, he completed (1990) a master’s degree in computer science at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and went to work at Sun Microsystems, Inc., as a member of its technology staff. He was lured away from Sun in 1992 to join Microsoft, where he initially worked on the development of Windows NT, a landmark operating system that was aimed primarily at business users. While working full-time at Microsoft, Nadella also earned (1997) a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago. 5. Jeff Bezos: Born to a teenage mother; his stepfather was a Cuban immigrant. Jeffrey P. Bezos was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His mother was still in her teens, and her marriage to his father lasted little more than a year. She remarried when Jeffrey was four. Jeffrey’s stepfather, Mike Bezos, was born in Cuba; he escaped to the United States alone at age 15, and worked his way through the University of Albuquerque. When he married Jeffrey’s mother, the family moved to Houston, where Mike Bezos became an engineer for Exxon. 6. David Sacks: Born in South Africa to scientists, moved to the US as a child. Sacks was born in 1972 in South Africa, and moved to the United States at age 5. He grew up in Memphis and attended an elite boys’ prep school before going on to Stanford University. 7. Lisa Su: Born in Taiwan, moved to the US as a toddler. Lisa Su was born in the coastal city of Tainan, Taiwan, and came to the United States with her parents and brother when she was two years old. She developed an interest in technology early on, taking electronics apart as a child. Su’s mother, an accountant turned entrepreneur, and father, a statistician, gave her three career options: doctor, concert pianist, or engineer. The latter seemed like the logical choice. After graduating from New York City’s prestigious Bronx High School of Science, a public magnet school, she went on to study electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). 8. Alex Karp: Born in NYC, raised by social justice warriors. Alex Karp was born on October 2, 1967, and grew up in Philadelphia. Being raised by parents active in political and labor rights demonstrations, influenced Karp early in questions of civil rights and social justice. His academic journey was impressive and varied: he earned a Bachelor’s degree from Haverford College, a J.D. from Stanford Law School, and later pursued a Ph.D. in social theory from Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. This diverse educational background helped shape his philosophical and ethical perspectives, particularly his interest in German philosophers which influenced both his studies and later his business practices. 9. Tom Brown: Raised in US. Brown studied computer science and cognitive science at MIT. He cofounded his first company, social club Grouper, in 2011. 10. Brandon Daniels. 11. Dario Amodei: Born in San Francisco to an Italian immigrant father. 12. Hock Tan: Born in Malaysia; came to US on scholarship. Hock E. Tan was born in Penang, Malaysia. He first came to the United States in 1971 on a scholarship to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering. He later earned an MBA from Harvard University. “It’s really amazing to me, even today, that this great American educational institution took a chance on me, sight unseen, and gave me a scholarship to pursue the American Dream,” Tan said in remarks at the White House. 13. Brad Gerstner: Born in Indiana. So I grew up in a small rural town in northwest Indiana. You know, I was coming of age in the late 70s and early 1980s. My dad, who was one of my early heroes, was first generation college and he was the general manager of a company that made auto parts and employed a lot of the men in this small town. And like was happening across America, a big corporate came to town, bought the company and laid off a lot of his men in 1977. And my dad felt this obligation to start his own company, hire them back and compete on making parts for the auto industry. But unfortunately, despite him working heroically, the combination of Japanese low priced cars, 13% interest rates, 13% inflation, he just couldn’t keep the credit in the business to keep the business going and eventually shut down. 14. Mark Zuckerberg: Born in White Plains, NY Mark Elliot Zuckerberg was born on May 14, 1984, in White Plains, New York, to Edward Zuckerberg, a dentist, and Karen Kempner-Zuckerberg, a psychiatrist. He grew up in nearby Dobbs Ferry with three sisters: Randi, Donna, and Arielle. His father operated a dental practice from the family home, where computers were part of Zuckerberg’s life from an early age. At about age 11, Zuckerberg created a home messaging network called ZuckNet that allowed his family to send messages between computers. After attending Phillips Exeter Academy, Zuckerberg enrolled at Harvard University in 2002. 15. Jensen Huang: Born in Taiwan, moved to US as a child. Huang was born the second son of Taiwan citizens Huang Hsing-tai and Lo Tsai-hsiu. Huang’s father was a chemical engineer, and his mother taught grade school. When he was five, the family moved to Thailand. However, due to the then-ongoing Vietnam War, Huang’s parents decided that they wouldn’t settle in Thailand permanently. Huang’s father had previously been accepted into a worker-training program at the American air conditioner manufacturer Carrier and had formed a positive impression of the United States. Huang’s mother helped prepare Huang and his brother for the eventual move by teaching them 10 random English words a day. When Huang was nine years old, he and his brother were sent to live with their uncle in Tacoma, Washington, while their parents stayed in Thailand. Shortly thereafter, Huang’s uncle sent them to the all-boys Oneida Baptist Institute in rural Oneida, Kentucky, mistakenly believing it to be a prestigious boarding school. In fact, the institute was a religious reform school for “difficult” children. Huang was forced to clean toilets every day while his brother worked on a tobacco farm. The boys were relentlessly bullied by fellow students, were called ethnic slurs, and were even threatened with knives. About two years later, Huang’s parents arrived in the United States, discovered the situation, and pulled their children out of Oneida. The reunited family settled in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon, where Huang attended Aloha High School. 16. Elon Musk: Born in South Africa, immigrated on a student and illegally worked on a student visa. Musk arrived in Palo Alto in 1995 for a graduate degree program at Stanford University but never enrolled in courses, working instead on his start-up. Leaving school left Musk without a legal basis to remain in the United States, according to legal experts. Foreign students cannot drop out of school to build a company, even if they are not immediately getting paid, said Leon Fresco, a former Justice Department immigration litigator. 17. Sundar Pichai: Born in India, immigrated on student visa. As a boy growing up in Madras (now Chennai), Pichai slept with his brother in the living room of the cramped family home, but his father, an electrical engineer at the British multinational GEC, saw that the boys received a good education. At an early age Pichai displayed an interest in technology and an extraordinary memory, especially for telephone numbers. After earning a bachelor’s degree in metallurgy in 1993 and a silver medal at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, he was awarded a scholarship to study at Stanford University, where he earned a master’s degree in engineering and materials science in 1995. He remained in the United States thereafter, working briefly for Applied Materials (a supplier of semiconductor materials) and then earning an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 2002. 18. Sanjay Mehrota: Born in India, immigrated on student visa. Humble beginnings shaped Sanjay Mehrotra’s early years in Kanpur, India, where he was born in 1958. The youngest of four siblings, Mehrotra grew up in a family that later influenced his career path. His father worked as a liaison officer in the cotton industry and made a life-changing decision to move the family to New Delhi when Mehrotra turned 10. This move to India’s capital city gave young Mehrotra educational opportunities that became the foundation of his future success. [snip] Transformative decision came at 18 when Mehrotra started his international education. His father dreamed of seeing his son pursue higher education in the United States—a vision that inspired Mehrotra to apply to American universities. He started his undergraduate studies at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, spending two years developing his tech skills. BITS Pilani gave him valuable tools that helped him excel in the technology sector. His path soon led him west. Bold transition marked Mehrotra’s transfer from BITS Pilani to the University of California, Berkeley. This move was more than just geographical—it became a defining moment in his education. His choice to leave India and study in America’s growing technology hub helped position him as a pioneer in the semiconductor revolution. Many international students struggle with adjustment, but Mehrotra tackled this challenge with determination and focus on his studies. 19. Bill McDermott: Born on Long Island. Bill McDermott, born in New York City in 1961, is an accomplished American businessman currently serving as the CEO of ServiceNow since 2019. Before taking the helm at ServiceNow, McDermott held various leadership positions in the tech industry, including CEO of SAP SE, where he significantly increased the company’s market value. His earlier career includes roles at Xerox, Gartner, and Siebel Systems. McDermott has authored a memoir titled “Winners Dream: A Journey from Corner Store to Corner Office” and has received numerous industry recognitions and awards for his leadership, such as “Manager of the Year” by the German Business Daily Handelsblatt and top CEO by Glassdoor in multiple countries. In addition to his professional accomplishments, McDermott is known for his civic leadership and involvement in philanthropic activities. 20. Nikesh Arora: Born in India, moved to US as student. Nikesh Arora was born in Ghaziabad, India. His father was an officer in the Indian Air Force, and Arora regularly changed schools as the family moved. After completing his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology at Banaras Hindu University, Arora came to the United States for graduate studies. He earned an MS in finance from Boston College and an MBA in business administration from Northeastern University. It’s one of the few normal-for-Republicans things they do: pull the ladder up after yourself. The first job I had was at a small electronics company founded and run by a Chinese immigrant. (My supervisor was an American of Japanese ancestry. He was also the supervisor at my second job.) One of my later bosses was an immigrant for Mexico. I am not sure about “this is the world that Trump wants America to be” as accurate. Trump wants a world that is dominated by the rich, whom he presumes are by definition intelligent, American, and white. He cannot conceive of an America with smart non-American citizens, smart non-whites, and smart non-poor folks. Being rich is proof of intelligence, which is only found in white Americans. (And, mostly in *men* — let us note for the record the minimal number of women among the techbros in the list above.) Trump would be shocked to read the brief bios here, as it would result in severe cognitive dissonance. Stephen Miller, on the other hand, would suffer no such dissonance, as he has no compunctions about punting these people EXCEPT to the extent that they are useful in purging large numbers of other immigrant and immigrant-adjacent folks. Are you suggesting this could be Steven Miller’s Judenrate? I wonder what the pitch was for the meeting: “Come to the dinner or there will be an investigation into your emigration credentials”? I wonder too, how many are Thiel/Musk adjacent. Trump’s Time interview is all the proof the American media needs to forget about our 250th. It needs to instead focus on the 25th. There should be a replay loop of Trump answering questions followed by questions directed to JV Dance, every Cabinet member and every Congressional member. “When are you going to remove this obviously mentally incapable man from office before he destroys us all?” Not gonna happen until January. Vance has his eye on finishing Trump’s term and then being elected to two more terms. He can’t do that right now. Aside from direct mutual interests in dismantling DEI, Miller’s America First Legal would seem to be a nationalist threat to a largely ‘immigrant’ AI foundation. But that foundation is core to the silicon valley billionaire community of tech engineering entrepreneurs. It is arguable that this is the real target political base for Trump’s America. In that regard Trump becomes the fusion between the two seemingly contradictory reasons for being. Thiel, Vance, Musk, Yarvin, Masters, Miller are all currently oddly dependent upon Trump; and existentially speaking, vice versa. An impressive list. Unfortunately, Trump only remembers what the latest person told him. So what we get if anything useful is learned is 1/20 th of the results we could get if Trump listened more & grifted less. You can bet the ranch that more than one of them is only protecting their financial interests. Studies have shown that people who choose to emigrate from their home countries are generally more resilient, more educated, and more adaptable than the general population of their countries of origin. Immigrating is a difficult choice in terms of isolation and dissonance in a new country. But those facts don’t interrupt Stephen Miller’s racism, nor Trump’s. (In the Time interview, an aside that Trump tosses out is that Barack Hussein Obama wouldn’t have been aware whether the White House was dirty or not. Also, the remark in this dinner that only Hispanics would survive falling from the wall of the under-construction dance hall.)