Miller highlights key Trump priority: the war against ‘cancerous, woke culture’

President Donald Trump and his top advisers on Thursday sought to spotlight their efforts so far to remake the federal government and American society with a pointed and at times chilling focus on cultural issues.

Deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, one of the chief architects of Trump’s second term, highlighted a monthslong effort to dismantle previous policies on diversity, equity and inclusion, and transgender medical treatments. In harsh and at times angry rhetoric, he cast Trump as a cultural warrior taking on entrenched interests and political correctness.

Miller’s roughly 35-minute appearance was the latest in a burst of activity during a weeklong push by the administration to promote Trump’s first 100 days in office. And like the other events this week, it was light on commentary about the week’s dim economic news, focusing instead on the social issues that helped Trump win a second term: transgender politics, diversity programs and immigration.

The remarks crystalized just how much of an emphasis Trump has placed on fighting culture wars in his second term, particularly those he views as a central reason for his victory. The president took office in January with an initial focus against transgender politics and diversity programs. He has also returned to these issues again and again to change the subject from less popular news, and this week was no different as the administration sought to deflect attention from headlines about economic contraction and job losses.

Miller’s appearance at the briefing room lectern also provided a rare glimpse of his deep involvement in Trump’s more controversial policy initiatives. He displayed in turn his passion for those issues and his animus toward the media and the left. He raised his voice and banged the lectern. He accused the media of siding with “terrorists” in its coverage of undocumented immigrants, told them they live in condos in nice areas and decried the “cancerous, communist, woke culture that is destroying this country.”

“This president has fought head on,” Miller said, his voice rising. “He inherited an economic catastrophe, a border catastrophe, a public safety catastrophe and a cultural catastrophe. And in every case, he has reversed those catastrophes and brought America into the new golden age.”

Miller warned of hospitals that use “taxpayer dollars to perform chemical castration and sexual mutilation of children.” He said former President Joe Biden “promoted prison rape by putting men into female prisons” and that schoolgirls would be “sexually assaulted, because school districts have allowed men into women’s and girls’ private spaces.”

While there was a border surge under Biden, it had largely stopped by the time Trump took office. Trump also inherited an economy with relatively low unemployment, falling inflation and strong growth. The month before the November election, the Economist newspaper published a cover story declaring that the U.S. economy was “the envy of the world.”

There is limited data to back up Miller’s claims, but male-on-male rape has always been a serious problem in U.S. prisons, as documented by Human Rights Watch.

He also assailed the teaching of critical race theory in public schools and universities, which he said will be forced to change if they plan to continue relying on federal funding: “Children will be taught to love America. Children will be taught to be patriots.” Critical race theory is an intellectual movement that examines the way policies and laws perpetuate systemic racism.

Miller cast diversity, equity and inclusion programs as “one of the most significant crises” facing the nation and said Trump was attempting to rid the country of such policies. He suggested that air traffic controllers and other federal employees were not hired based on merit, effectively declaring that any consideration of race or gender in hiring is discriminatory and will be barred.

Miller also said the administration would continue pushing for prosecution of those who don’t comply with a rash of new policies that are subject to lawsuits.

He declined to say whether Trump is working to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego García, the Maryland resident mistakenly sent to a prison in El Salvador, but he lambasted the media over its coverage of the episode and not focusing more on victims of crimes committed by immigrants who entered the country illegally.

“Every one of you that sides over and over again with these terrorists,” he said, “to the extent that you have the financial means to do so, you all choose to live in condos or homes or houses as far away from these kinds of gangbangers as you possibly can.”

The White House has not provided conclusive evidence that Abrego Gárcia was a member of violent Salvadoran gang MS-13.

Throughout the week, the White House has held early morning briefings to highlight various aspects of Trump’s first 100 days. The administration initially focused on immigration, lining the lawn of the White House with posters of undocumented immigrants who committed crimes, and had Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discuss the sweeping changes to the economy that Trump has overseen.

By Wednesday, there were new indications that those policies were taking a toll, with dim economic forecasts that clouded what Trump had hoped would be a valedictory marker of his 100 days in office.

The new data showed that — thanks in part to Trump’s tariffs — the U.S. economy shrank in the first three months of 2025, a reversal after three years of growth.

Trump lashed out, largely blaming Biden for the economy, even though most of the latest indicators have been a reaction to policies put in place since Trump took office.

“You probably saw some numbers today,” he said at the start of a Cabinet meeting that was open to reporters. “And I have to start off by saying, that’s Biden; that’s not Trump.”

Miller on Thursday also largely rebuffed concerns that economists and businesses have raised around the impact of Trump’s tariff policy.

When asked about a Chamber of Commerce letter calling for relief for small businesses, he said, “The relief for small businesses is going to come in the form of the largest tax cut in American history.”