Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 12:11 AM Sep 2018

'You didn't get our message': key Trump aide Stephen Miller condemned by childhood rabbi

'You didn't get our message': key Trump aide Stephen Miller condemned by childhood rabbi
Neil Comess-Daniels denounces Miller as a purveyor of ‘violence, malice and brutality’ for zero-tolerance immigration policies

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/10/stephen-miller-trump-rabbi-neil-comess-daniels

(snips - highlights are mine)
The childhood rabbi to Stephen Miller, special adviser to Donald Trump and a key architect of his “zero-tolerance” immigration policies, criticized his former charge on Monday as a purveyor of “negativity, violence, malice and brutality” who had learned nothing from his Jewish spiritual education. Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels of Beth Shir Shalom, a progressive reform synagogue in the beachside city of Santa Monica where Miller grew up, devoted his sermon marking the Jewish New Year to a striking denunciation of Miller and the now-abandoned policy he championed of separating immigrant families at the border.

“Honestly, Mr Miller, you’ve set back the Jewish contribution to making the world spiritually whole through your arbitrary division of these desperate people,” the rabbi said. “The actions that you now encourage President Trump to take make it obvious to me that you didn’t get my, or our, Jewish message.
---------
Comess-Daniels’ denunciation follows on the heels of a similar repudiation by Miller’s uncle, David Glosser, who described his “dismay and increasing horror” at the behavior of his nephew in an essay for Politico last month. “In the face of the virtual kidnapping of thousands of innocent children, I didn’t feel I had the ethical standing to remain silent,” Glosser later explained to the Guardian.

I'm glad to hear someone with standing calling Miller out. IMO, he's one of the most evil members of tRump's staff......
23 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
'You didn't get our message': key Trump aide Stephen Miller condemned by childhood rabbi (Original Post) KY_EnviroGuy Sep 2018 OP
He's really a symbol of the republican party. For example: JHan Sep 2018 #1
Miller is a true zealot. PatrickforO Sep 2018 #5
you state that so eloquently.. JHan Sep 2018 #14
LOL, well he IS a sack of shit. PatrickforO Sep 2018 #22
Someone should write a book on select Republicans called... KY_EnviroGuy Sep 2018 #6
I've run out of superlatives for them. Deplorable doesn't even begin to cover it. JHan Sep 2018 #15
LOL, maybe this will help.... KY_EnviroGuy Sep 2018 #19
WTF??????? Pachamama Sep 2018 #20
it's really frightening how many people endorse this.. JHan Sep 2018 #23
K&R for the rabbi! Very well said! Rhiannon12866 Sep 2018 #2
Bad apple in most every barrel, LOL. KY_EnviroGuy Sep 2018 #10
I have to agree, but it still must bother the rabbi to hear about Miller on the national news Rhiannon12866 Sep 2018 #12
I know what you mean - the bad ones work on our psyche. KY_EnviroGuy Sep 2018 #16
I sure know what you mean Rhiannon12866 Sep 2018 #18
Miller has heaped coals upon himself. PatrickforO Sep 2018 #3
One could say Republicanism is a religion of its own... KY_EnviroGuy Sep 2018 #8
Stephen Miller is a modern-day kapo. backscatter712 Sep 2018 #4
Miller's uncle, David Glosser wrote a scathing comentary about him in Aug. appalachiablue Sep 2018 #7
All evangelical deplorables need to read this. KY_EnviroGuy Sep 2018 #11
Maybe some..More of Mr. Glasser's essay from Politico, appalachiablue Sep 2018 #13
Yes, Hypocrisy-R-Us for most Republicans. KY_EnviroGuy Sep 2018 #17
They are all evil ooky Sep 2018 #9
Everyone like this Rabbi needs to be speaking out against Miller, Trump and the GOP Pachamama Sep 2018 #21

PatrickforO

(14,514 posts)
5. Miller is a true zealot.
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 01:16 AM
Sep 2018

There was another such zealot who had an epiphany on the road to Damascus. He then engaged his zealotry into shaping the nascent Christian religion and had a great deal to do with the patriarchal, genocidal and homophobic tendencies shown by Christian dogmatists. Many died through the centuries because of such dogmatic zealotry.

Right now, Miller is scary and creepy but what if he has his own epiphany on the beltway into DC and becomes a born-again Democrat!

Why, with his zealotry, he could teach us all a thing or two as he, with his fiery will, reshaped our party into an intolerant and judgmental group after his own mind - a group whose members must support certain dogmas or else be excommunicated...

Seriously, though, Miller's fanaticism has helped fan the pseudo-religiousness of this Trump cult.

Because that's what it is, you know. The 'party of Trump' is nothing but a cult filled with mindless followers led by a deranged, amoral and evil man.

Oh, and a last word...it isn't the rabbi's fault. The evil Miller has done rests solely on his shoulders. All of us had difficulties at times in our lives, and even traumas, but that is not an excuse for doing evil to our fellow humans.

JHan

(10,173 posts)
14. you state that so eloquently..
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 02:59 AM
Sep 2018

meanwhile, I'm here and all I can come up with is "he's a sack of shit".

seems he's never had a positive intervention in his life which resonated with him in any deeply impactful way. In a sad way he is a man of our times. In a world where Steve King retweets Nazis without electoral backlash, it makes sense a Stephen Miller would be in the white house.

If a Cheeto Mussolini can exist, Miller is no surprise.

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
6. Someone should write a book on select Republicans called...
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 01:30 AM
Sep 2018

"Profiles in Wickedness" as a contrasting companion to President Kennedy's book, and goodness knows it could be easily filled with dozens of miscreants.

Consider including Spiro Agnew, Shrub, Dick Cheney, Wolfowitz, tRump, Miller and tRump's entire cabinet for a start. One would need a separate version for Congress, and there could be multiple volumes.........

Thanks for posting the excellent article to add to my "Evil Repug" bookmark folder!

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
19. LOL, maybe this will help....
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 03:41 AM
Sep 2018

See: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Thesaurus:lamentable

Surely "woebegone" has some good uses here.....

Having come up in a scientific field, I'm not good with fancy words. So, with tRump around, even at 70YO I get to learn new ones each day.

......

Pachamama

(16,873 posts)
20. WTF???????
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 09:31 AM
Sep 2018

That is seriously messed up....that he even thought of it, that he did that (thinking it symbolized the point he was trying to make) and that what is additionally even more effed up is that the White House responded this way.

What does this tell us?

1) Stephen Miller has been one disturbed messed up effed up sicko since a young age - red flags everywhere

2) It explains so much about him and who he is

3) The White House is equally as disturbed as Miller and it explains so much about them and who they are...

Maybe what Miller was really trying then was an experiment to prove just how many dumb morons (I mean "Morans&quot are out there that will believe anything and the White House knows that too and their answer is set for them....

JHan

(10,173 posts)
23. it's really frightening how many people endorse this..
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 10:52 AM
Sep 2018

it's why "this is not who we are" does my head in.

Rhiannon12866

(202,970 posts)
2. K&R for the rabbi! Very well said!
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 12:53 AM
Sep 2018

All of his former teachers have to be pretty demoralized, kudos to Rabbi Comess-Daniels - and Miller's uncle - for speaking out!


Comess-Daniels told the Rosh Hashanah faithful that some of his fellow rabbis had questioned how he had educated Miller. “I can assure you, as I can assure them,” he said, “that what I taught is a Judiasm that cherishes, wisdom, values … wide horizons and an even wider embrace … [Separating families] is completely antithetical to everything I know about Judaism, Jewish law and Jewish values.”

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
10. Bad apple in most every barrel, LOL.
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 02:16 AM
Sep 2018

At least those teachers know that maybe 99% of their student go on to do good things.....

But, I would be cutting his photo out of my yearbook.......

It was inspirational to read what the Rabbi said...... .......

Rhiannon12866

(202,970 posts)
12. I have to agree, but it still must bother the rabbi to hear about Miller on the national news
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 02:31 AM
Sep 2018

He sounds like a caring and sincere man - he's a rabbi, after all! - and he has the ignominious distinction of having been Miller's childhood rabbi. Too bad that his wise words now are even more unlikely to make an impression.

And was it Stephen Miller whose college graduating class came out against him? Or was it some other Trump enabler? There are so many that have come and gone you really need a scorecard...

Terrific OP, thanks so much for posting!

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
16. I know what you mean - the bad ones work on our psyche.
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 03:11 AM
Sep 2018

Some of the tough guys I worked with (in you know what) that died still linger in my mind, while I should be grateful for the multitude that made it.
------

Good summary of Miller's history here from last year:
Link: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article130428894.html

Stephen Miller’s brash path from Duke campus to Trump White House
By Jane Stancill jstancill@newsobserver.com
February 03, 2017

At Duke, Miller never seemed to have a problem with disagreements. He sought them out, and enjoyed the fight, according to those who knew him.

“He’s the most sanctimonious student I think I ever encountered,” said John Burness, Duke’s former senior vice president of public affairs and government relations. “He seemed to be absolutely sure of his own views and the correctness of them, and seemed to assume that if you were in disagreement with him, there was something malevolent or stupid about your thinking. Incredibly intolerant.”

----------
How radical right-wing ideologues like Miller and Bannon get to be US government employees, I'll never understand.

As many say, so long as they're able to do their destruction, Republicans really just don't care......

...........

Rhiannon12866

(202,970 posts)
18. I sure know what you mean
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 03:37 AM
Sep 2018

Just tonight I was reminiscing about someone I liked a lot. There are so many.

And the Trump phenomenon baffles me, as well. In our history we have always supported and chosen the candidate who promised to do the most to help the American people, FDR, JFK, Obama! This ignorant blowhard says and does things every single day that would have turned Americans against anyone else. That there are still those who choose to overlook the damage he's perpetrated completely baffles me. GHW Bush didn't know the price of bread, Ford made that gaffe about communism in Eastern Europe, Obama chewed gum! Normally, I'd attribute this to people not paying attention. But every outrage and every scandal is reported in detail by the news, you can't escape it. I honestly don't understand why this has been allowed to go on for so long.

PatrickforO

(14,514 posts)
3. Miller has heaped coals upon himself.
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 01:03 AM
Sep 2018

What the world needs, if we're talking Jewish wisdom is Tikkun, or healing. To be made whole.

The rabbi is quite right - Stephen has not contributed to making the world whole; rather he has sown divisiveness and hatred.

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
8. One could say Republicanism is a religion of its own...
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 01:53 AM
Sep 2018

and it has drawn adherents from many faiths, most of which bear false witness.

Apparently, it pays better than the others.....

I just wish some of the upper echelon Protestant and Jewish leaders would be far more vocal in opposition to the evil plague that's been set upon us. Why they are supporting a political party that is in complete opposition to the basic tenets of their faith continues to baffle me.

.....

appalachiablue

(41,047 posts)
7. Miller's uncle, David Glosser wrote a scathing comentary about him in Aug.
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 01:52 AM
Sep 2018

*"Uncle of Trump Adviser Stephen Miller Voices 'Horror' At Immigration Policies." David Glosser says despite family ties, he cannot justify keeping silent about ‘virtual kidnapping of thousands of children.’ The Guardian, Aug. 13, 2018.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/13/stephen-miller-uncle-david-glosser-immigration-separation

Donald Trump’s senior adviser Stephen Miller has been publicly savaged by his uncle for promoting the separation of immigrant families at the US-Mexico border. David Glosser, a retired clinical neuroscientist living in Pennsylvania whose sister is Stephen Miller’s mother, said the policy was so abhorrent he felt a duty to speak out. In an essay published Monday on Politico, Glosser described the family history that he and Miller share as the descendants of Jews who came to America more than a century ago to escape the pogroms of tsarist Russia.

“I have watched with dismay and increasing horror as my nephew, who is an educated man and well aware of his heritage, has become the architect of immigration policies that repudiate the very foundation of our family’s life in this country,” Glosser wrote.
In an interview with the Guardian, Glosser acknowledged that he was risking a rift within the Glosser-Miller family by speaking out but did not think he had a choice. “It’s bound to raise hard feelings,” he said, “but in the face of the virtual kidnapping of thousands of innocent children, I didn’t feel I had the ethical standing to remain silent.”



"Stephen Miller Is An Immigration Hypocrite, I Know Because I Am His Uncle," Politico, Aug. 13, 2018. *EXCERPTS:
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/13/stephen-miller-is-an-immigration-hypocrite-i-know-because-im-his-uncle-219351

"He set foot on Ellis Island on January 7, 1903, with $8 to his name. Though fluent in Polish, Russian and Yiddish, he understood no English. An elder son, Nathan, soon followed. By street corner peddling and sweatshop toil, Wolf-Leib and Nathan sent enough money home to pay off debts and buy the immediate family’s passage to America in 1906. That group included young Sam Glosser, who with his family settled in the western Pennsylvania city of Johnstown, a booming coal and steel town that was a magnet for other hardworking immigrants.

The Glosser family quickly progressed from selling goods from a horse and wagon to owning a haberdashery in Johnstown run by Nathan and Wolf-Leib to a chain of supermarkets and discount department stores run by my grandfather, Sam, and the next generation of Glossers, including my dad, Izzy. It was big enough to be listed on the AMEX stock exchange and employed thousands of people over time. In the span of some 80 years and five decades, this family emerged from poverty in a hostile country to become a prosperous, educated clan of merchants, scholars, professionals, and, most important, American citizens.

I have watched with dismay and increasing horror as my nephew, an educated man who is well aware of his heritage, has become the architect of immigration policies that repudiate the very foundation of our family’s life in this country.
I shudder at the thought of what would have become of the Glossers had the same policies Stephen so coolly espouses— the travel ban, the radical decrease in refugees, the separation of children from their parents, and even talk of limiting citizenship for legal immigrants — been in effect when Wolf-Leib made his desperate bid for freedom.

The Glossers came to the U.S. just a few years before the fear and prejudice of the “America first” nativists of the day closed U.S. borders to Jewish refugees. Had Wolf-Leib waited, his family likely would have been murdered by the Nazis along with all but seven of the 2,000 Jews who remained in Antopol. I would encourage Stephen to ask himself if the chanting, torch-bearing Nazis of Charlottesville, whose support his boss seems to court so cavalierly, do not envision a similar fate for him.

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
11. All evangelical deplorables need to read this.
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 02:21 AM
Sep 2018

Maybe plant a seed of moral doubt in those thick skulls...... .......

appalachiablue

(41,047 posts)
13. Maybe some..More of Mr. Glasser's essay from Politico,
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 02:52 AM
Sep 2018

The first member of their family came to the US in 1903, from what is now Belarus. Then other relatives immigrated to America. Their hometown Anapol had 2,000 Jewish residents, of which only 7 Jews survived the Nazi's Holocaust. The Glosser-Miller family would have perished if they'd stayed, and instead they prospered here, as Mr. Glosser stresses.

- David Glosser, Politico, 8/13/18. "The Glossers came to the U.S. just a few years before the fear and prejudice of the “America first” nativists of the day closed U.S. borders to Jewish refugees. Had Wolf-Leib waited, his family likely would have been murdered by the Nazis along with all but seven of the 2,000 Jews who remained in Antopol. I would encourage Stephen to ask himself if the chanting, torch-bearing Nazis of Charlottesville, whose support his boss seems to court so cavalierly, do not envision a similar fate for him."

David Glosser, Full Essay, Politico, Aug. 13, 2018.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/13/stephen-miller-is-an-immigration-hypocrite-i-know-because-im-his-uncle-219351

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
17. Yes, Hypocrisy-R-Us for most Republicans.
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 03:30 AM
Sep 2018

Thanks for posting that good article. Makes me wonder; "does anyone like this guy other than Trump?"

(snip)

Acting for so long in the theater of right-wing politics, Stephen and Trump may have become numb to the resultant human tragedy and blind to the hypocrisy of their policy decisions.

From Post #16 above, a good summary of Miller's history from last year:

Stephen Miller’s brash path from Duke campus to Trump White House

Link: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article130428894.html

We must somehow rid our government of these extreme, radical ideologues - none of which understand the term "public servant".

ooky

(8,885 posts)
9. They are all evil
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 02:02 AM
Sep 2018

Miller, Trump, Nielsen, Sessions, Azar. The whole lot of them deserve to burn in Hell for what they did to those children and families. They are Team Evil. I hope none of them ever get served anywhere again.

Pachamama

(16,873 posts)
21. Everyone like this Rabbi needs to be speaking out against Miller, Trump and the GOP
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 09:33 AM
Sep 2018

This is a good start, especially within Stephen Miller's own community.

Shun and shame them all....call them out for what they are....

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»'You didn't get our messa...