On Tuesday this week, Miller appeared on Hannity and addressed Newsom and the social media post.
“It is a message that his team is sending to all the crazies and lunatics out there,” he said.
“We’re not going to absolve Democrats of responsibility anymore. There’s a reason why all of these killers and lunatics and terrorists adopt the same language. They say they are trying to kill the fascist and stop the fascists. This is deliberate.”
Speaking about recent incidents of political violence, including the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, Miller accused the Democratic Party of encouraging such attacks.
“They have been radicalized by Democrat Party rhetoric that describes anyone who doesn’t share their warped and twisted world view as fascists, worthy by implication of execution,” Miller said.
On one hand, I agree that “fascist” is broadly overused to talk about things on the right, extending beyond what it should technically refer to to. And that’s not something specific to 2025 or the US – it’s been a phenomenon for decades.
On the other hand, that’s a two-edged sword. It’s also true that “socialist” and “communist” are very broadly overused by the right to try to paint things that they didn’t like as being more extreme than they were. During the Cold War, this was maybe more understandable, but it’s not at all uncommon for people on the right to call center-left people “socialist” or “communist” even today.
Here’s Stephen Miller himself pulling out “communist”:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/stephen-miller-demands-americans-side-with-donald-trump-against-communist-judges-in-unhinged-rant/
Obama and Harris also both tended to get painted as socialist or communist at every opportunity possible. Neither is anything of the sort.
Not even close to being equivalent. The current regime is straight up fascist. It’s just a fact. That’s not the same as using red scare propaganda.