My dad and I grew up in the same town. Same house. Yeadon. Right on the edge of SW Philly. There were all sorts of different white folk in that neighborhood, including tons of Italian families, when my dad was riding his bike around, post-war. By the time I was riding my bike around those same alleys, white flight had set in and many of the old names were replaced with Black faces. That was fine by me.
My drug-addicted next door neighbor (Italian, like me and my dad) used to come out of his parents' house and scream all the usual epithets at my Black and immigrant friends as we played in my yard. My dad had to come out and smack him around a few times.
My mother's parents were off-the-boat Irish. Both dead before my dad showed up. But when her oldest sister dared to marry an Italian boy...holy shit (as I understand the story). That marriage was 1950- something.
Each group gets to hate the next group, I guess. But can we all agree to hate the nazis and Stephen Millers for all time?
Also I’ll point out what an abnormal greasy weirdo scumbag Miller is. A well adjusted person who doesn’t have dead nursing students in his trunk would post something like this”saw the Dean Martin Xmas special with my kids—great show if you haven’t seen it, a holiday classic” and people would think “oh, pretty normal, I guess politics aside he’s a human being” but instead he has to go on with “and wouldn’t it be great if we kept brown people out of our country, especially that mean Puerto Rican girl who made fun of my penis back in junior high, yes that’s my villain origin story, now I’m hanging with Nazis who definitely won’t turn on Jews, surely they’ll make an exception for me”.
Thank you for this, Stephen. When I was growing up in Southwestern PA, Italians, Slavs, and other European immigrants who came to work in the mills and mines were considered "racially" inferior to Anglo-Saxons. An aunt by marriage who was Italian-American was called the n-word more than once because she was darker skinned. It is equally laughable and enraging that Miller uses Martin and Sinatra, whose families were subject to this sort of discrimination just a generation or two ago, to attack "third-world" immigrants today. Miller is in the long tradition of American Nativists, or "heritage" Americans in today's parlance.
We are living in the dumbest and most dangerous timeline ever. Robert Reich had a great column that gave Miller’s genealogical history. Of course he’s from a family of Jewish immigrants fleeing the pogroms. Fleeing persecution of course so asylum.
That's a fine summary Stephen! I would only add that no one on the right actually cares if they are inconsistent, self-contradictory, of flat out wrong on the facts. The whole point is always to prove that reality is always and only what they say it is at any given moment. The whole point is to accumulate enough unquestioning followers who will deny history, deny logic, and accept only the word of the Dear Leader.
If you question him, you are the unpatriotic enemy! George Orwell nailed it long ago.
And also: What kind of person is inspired to contemplate his hatred for immigrants while he’s watching a warm, traditional Christmas special with his children?
The kind of broken scum that Miller is. Never forget he came up as Chief of Staff to Senator Jeff Sessions, who was denied a Federal Judgeship because of his open and well documented racist history.
(Whose constituents happily kept electing him after that...)
Racists often hate art, but because art reaches people they try to invoke and coopt it. The result is often extremely sad. But it's just another way that Herr Miller is a multidimensionally awful person.
When I was born in San Francisco, my family took me home to the Hunters Point Projects. Shortly after, the City opened the North Beach Projects, which were race-restricted. It was a de facto Italian ghetto, but no Blacks! San Francisco hasn't always been so liberal and inclusive.
Yep—the irony a lot of today’s anti-immigrant types (including many Italians) don’t believe this is all the same old shit that was directed at Italians, Slavs, Jews, etc. Each time they say “ok the old bigots were wrong about THOSE immigrants, but we’re right about THESE new ones.”
Exactly! The irony is that Miller uses a TV special starring two Italian-Americans, who wouldn't have been considered fully "white" by many Anglo-Saxon Americans in the 19th and early-mid 20th century, to rail against "third-world" (read, non-white) immigrants
Yes, Miller is a racist and is stupid, and my observation is that racism and stupidity do indeed overlap. My father said that he believed at the heart of racism is an inferiority complex - the fear that those that the racist hates and CLAIMS is inferior, is actually better than the said racist hates.
The beloved It’s a Wonderful Life has a subtext of condemning anti-Italian bigotry, made explicit when Mr. Potter, tempting George Bailey to come over to his dark side, blurts out "bunch of garlic eaters" to refer to the Building and Loan's clientele.
Naziferatu and his ilk believe in a utopian version of America that never existed, one in which only the "right" kind of immigrants were allowed in the country, and minorities "knew their place."
Moreover, his self-hatred (and hatred of others) is driven by insecurity, and a deep desire to be accepted by the Aryans that control the Republican party.
Unfortunately a large number of Italian Americans buy into the right wing BS that their ancestors were very different from the Third World immigrants of today, much as many Hispanics buy into the idea that they’re not lumped in with the Hispanic immigrants that Trump is deporting and even killing on the high seas (if you’re dumb enough to believe they’re killing people in those boats because they think the boats are “drug boats” you just might be a MSM “journalist”).
Shouldn’t be surprising that greaseball Miller pushes that myth—he’s convinced himself that Jews aren’t lumped in with the “undesirables”.
The Martin-Sinatra special (in fact the whole Rat Pack with the exception of Lawford) is a symbol of how well once-hated immigrants and POCs (Davis Jr) can not only become beloved by the mainstream but openly champion civil rights (Martin and Sinatra had a sharp break with the Kennedys, who they’d campaigned for, when the cowardly new president refused to allow Davis Jr attend his inaugural ball—JFK was afraid his southern racist allies would object because Davis’s date was his white wife).
Miller, being a scumbag, just sees a holiday special where there were no (obvious) Hispanics and that satisfied him.
I'm reminded of Pat Buchanan and his hardly disguised racist white supremacism going on about 'Hottentots' the his ancestors were greeted with signs "No dogs or Irish allowed".
Sadly it appears to be a common American theme. The Great-grandchildren of despised 'others' become "American" and despise the 'others'.
Many Hispanics seem to believe they will be exempt from discrimination if they attempt to join the MAGA racist boat, even as they see friends and family incarcerated and deported in the process.
They think they’re the ones who did things right, it’s the “others” who are breaking laws, stealing their jobs and using up public services. They’re just as willing to swallow the anti-immigrant BS as any white people.
My dad and I grew up in the same town. Same house. Yeadon. Right on the edge of SW Philly. There were all sorts of different white folk in that neighborhood, including tons of Italian families, when my dad was riding his bike around, post-war. By the time I was riding my bike around those same alleys, white flight had set in and many of the old names were replaced with Black faces. That was fine by me.
My drug-addicted next door neighbor (Italian, like me and my dad) used to come out of his parents' house and scream all the usual epithets at my Black and immigrant friends as we played in my yard. My dad had to come out and smack him around a few times.
My mother's parents were off-the-boat Irish. Both dead before my dad showed up. But when her oldest sister dared to marry an Italian boy...holy shit (as I understand the story). That marriage was 1950- something.
Each group gets to hate the next group, I guess. But can we all agree to hate the nazis and Stephen Millers for all time?
Thanks for sharing! I love this history.
Also I’ll point out what an abnormal greasy weirdo scumbag Miller is. A well adjusted person who doesn’t have dead nursing students in his trunk would post something like this”saw the Dean Martin Xmas special with my kids—great show if you haven’t seen it, a holiday classic” and people would think “oh, pretty normal, I guess politics aside he’s a human being” but instead he has to go on with “and wouldn’t it be great if we kept brown people out of our country, especially that mean Puerto Rican girl who made fun of my penis back in junior high, yes that’s my villain origin story, now I’m hanging with Nazis who definitely won’t turn on Jews, surely they’ll make an exception for me”.
Thank you for this, Stephen. When I was growing up in Southwestern PA, Italians, Slavs, and other European immigrants who came to work in the mills and mines were considered "racially" inferior to Anglo-Saxons. An aunt by marriage who was Italian-American was called the n-word more than once because she was darker skinned. It is equally laughable and enraging that Miller uses Martin and Sinatra, whose families were subject to this sort of discrimination just a generation or two ago, to attack "third-world" immigrants today. Miller is in the long tradition of American Nativists, or "heritage" Americans in today's parlance.
We are living in the dumbest and most dangerous timeline ever. Robert Reich had a great column that gave Miller’s genealogical history. Of course he’s from a family of Jewish immigrants fleeing the pogroms. Fleeing persecution of course so asylum.
That's a fine summary Stephen! I would only add that no one on the right actually cares if they are inconsistent, self-contradictory, of flat out wrong on the facts. The whole point is always to prove that reality is always and only what they say it is at any given moment. The whole point is to accumulate enough unquestioning followers who will deny history, deny logic, and accept only the word of the Dear Leader.
If you question him, you are the unpatriotic enemy! George Orwell nailed it long ago.
“Demagogues might sometimes change their victims but their tactics remain the same.”
Same as it ever was.
There are stupid people that aren’t racist, but there are no racists that aren’t stupid people.
Thanks, Stephen, for this excellent historical breakdown. There must always be The Other.
And also: What kind of person is inspired to contemplate his hatred for immigrants while he’s watching a warm, traditional Christmas special with his children?
The kind of broken scum that Miller is. Never forget he came up as Chief of Staff to Senator Jeff Sessions, who was denied a Federal Judgeship because of his open and well documented racist history.
(Whose constituents happily kept electing him after that...)
Racists often hate art, but because art reaches people they try to invoke and coopt it. The result is often extremely sad. But it's just another way that Herr Miller is a multidimensionally awful person.
Miller’s comment was aimed that ‘brown’ people, not white immigrants.
That is what he meant, but in the process exposed his ignorance.
That is true, but I really believe that wasn’t behind miller’s intent
Italians weren’t considered white for a long while
When I was born in San Francisco, my family took me home to the Hunters Point Projects. Shortly after, the City opened the North Beach Projects, which were race-restricted. It was a de facto Italian ghetto, but no Blacks! San Francisco hasn't always been so liberal and inclusive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kucXfblct8M
I love North Beach! Thanks for this bit of history.
Forgot to add that we moved to North Beach, and from there joined the White Flight to the suburbs.
Yep—the irony a lot of today’s anti-immigrant types (including many Italians) don’t believe this is all the same old shit that was directed at Italians, Slavs, Jews, etc. Each time they say “ok the old bigots were wrong about THOSE immigrants, but we’re right about THESE new ones.”
Exactly! The irony is that Miller uses a TV special starring two Italian-Americans, who wouldn't have been considered fully "white" by many Anglo-Saxon Americans in the 19th and early-mid 20th century, to rail against "third-world" (read, non-white) immigrants
He’s such a piece of shit. And I’m old enough to remember how Italians were persecuted here until they won us all over with their food 😂
A quote from this post at LGM (https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/12/man-mistakes-himself-for-white-hilarity-fascism-ensue ) on this subject:
"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 [𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘢] 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘶𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘥-20𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢. 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘑𝘰𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘪𝘰’𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘢𝘯 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘋𝘪𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘪𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘠𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 1940𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘔𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘢𝘯 𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘎𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘹𝘪𝘤 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘦𝘵𝘤."
This was still the era where Chef Boy-ar-dee canned spaghetti was 'new and exotic'
Yes, Miller is a racist and is stupid, and my observation is that racism and stupidity do indeed overlap. My father said that he believed at the heart of racism is an inferiority complex - the fear that those that the racist hates and CLAIMS is inferior, is actually better than the said racist hates.
As I’ve mentioned before, white culture says it wants a “merit-based” society, but that’s is an obvious lie.
Whenever BIPOC people are allowed to compete on a level playing field their rates of success far exceeds that of their numerical representation.
The beloved It’s a Wonderful Life has a subtext of condemning anti-Italian bigotry, made explicit when Mr. Potter, tempting George Bailey to come over to his dark side, blurts out "bunch of garlic eaters" to refer to the Building and Loan's clientele.
Naziferatu and his ilk believe in a utopian version of America that never existed, one in which only the "right" kind of immigrants were allowed in the country, and minorities "knew their place."
Moreover, his self-hatred (and hatred of others) is driven by insecurity, and a deep desire to be accepted by the Aryans that control the Republican party.
"a deep desire to be accepted by the Aryans that control the Republican party."
Who themselves are mostly the descendants of once-reviled immigrants, lead by a man whose grandfather was a draft-dodging brothel-keeper.
Christmas jeer! Lmao exactly
Unfortunately a large number of Italian Americans buy into the right wing BS that their ancestors were very different from the Third World immigrants of today, much as many Hispanics buy into the idea that they’re not lumped in with the Hispanic immigrants that Trump is deporting and even killing on the high seas (if you’re dumb enough to believe they’re killing people in those boats because they think the boats are “drug boats” you just might be a MSM “journalist”).
Shouldn’t be surprising that greaseball Miller pushes that myth—he’s convinced himself that Jews aren’t lumped in with the “undesirables”.
The Martin-Sinatra special (in fact the whole Rat Pack with the exception of Lawford) is a symbol of how well once-hated immigrants and POCs (Davis Jr) can not only become beloved by the mainstream but openly champion civil rights (Martin and Sinatra had a sharp break with the Kennedys, who they’d campaigned for, when the cowardly new president refused to allow Davis Jr attend his inaugural ball—JFK was afraid his southern racist allies would object because Davis’s date was his white wife).
Miller, being a scumbag, just sees a holiday special where there were no (obvious) Hispanics and that satisfied him.
I'm reminded of Pat Buchanan and his hardly disguised racist white supremacism going on about 'Hottentots' the his ancestors were greeted with signs "No dogs or Irish allowed".
Sadly it appears to be a common American theme. The Great-grandchildren of despised 'others' become "American" and despise the 'others'.
Bill Murray said it best, in Stripes:
"𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳: 𝘊𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵! 𝘊𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵! 𝘊𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵! 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶? 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥! 𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦. 𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴𝘪. 𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘴. 𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘴, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 '𝘈', 𝘩𝘶𝘩? 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴? 𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘢? 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘦. 𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘰𝘨. 𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘴! 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘧: 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥! 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘢𝘭, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘵𝘵. 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘸 "𝘖𝘭𝘥 𝘠𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳?" 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘖𝘭𝘥 𝘠𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥?
[𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥]"
Many Hispanics seem to believe they will be exempt from discrimination if they attempt to join the MAGA racist boat, even as they see friends and family incarcerated and deported in the process.
They think they’re the ones who did things right, it’s the “others” who are breaking laws, stealing their jobs and using up public services. They’re just as willing to swallow the anti-immigrant BS as any white people.
Naziferatu's great grandparents were lucky enough to come in earlier than theme we started really preventing Jews from coming in. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/13/stephen-miller-is-an-immigration-hypocrite-i-know-because-im-his-uncle-219351/