Lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle are fuming over President Donald Trump’s elevation of Stephen Miller to be his chief of staff.

US ‌President Donald Trump has replaced Susie Wiles with Miller, elevating the architect of ‌some of his toughest domestic policies to run the White House after Republicans lost control of Congress in this ‌week’s midterm elections.

The shake-up on Friday puts a longtime Trump loyalist and firebrand policy adviser in charge of steering Trump’s agenda as the president prepares to confront a Democratic-led House of Representatives and Senate, and an expected wave of congressional investigations.

Democratic lawmakers decried Stephen Miller as a “hatemonger”, a “xenophobe” and “vile”. “For Trump to promote this hatemonger shows he has learned nothing,” Dick Durbin, a Democratic senator from Illinois, wrote on X.

Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, who is widely expected to become the chamber’s first Black speaker, called Miller “a dangerous xenophobe and reckless extremist who has American blood on his hands” and demanded he be fired.

The move was also unpopular with several Republicans.

Marlin Stutzman, a Republican from Indiana, called his appointment a “horrible decision”.

“Because of his immigration positions, I just think we ruined a lot of our goodwill with Latino voters,” Stutzman told Fox News.

A GOP lawmaker who spoke to Fox News anonymously said, “Stephen is a megalomaniac who should have never been given the keys to the Ferrari.

“That being said, he’s not the reason why we lost. No one knows who Stephen Miller is in our districts.”

White House officials said Miller’s selection suggests Trump will take an aggressive ‌approach to domestic policy ‌and politics.

Susie Wiles’ allies in the White House began sharing concerns about her potential replacement. Photo: AP

Miller is ⁠a veteran of Trump’s first term in office in 2017-2021. Since ​Trump’s return to the White House in 2025, Miller has officially been deputy chief of staff under Wiles, but he wielded outsize influence across much of Trump’s domestic agenda and has had the ear of the president.

He is perhaps best known for driving Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown, setting a target of 3000 arrests ⁠a day. In pursuit of that target, federal immigration agents ‌expanded their ​list of targets to include migrants who had been living in the United States for decades.

In a social ​media post, ‌Trump called Miller “one of my most trusted advisers” and he praised Wiles for doing “an outstanding job”. He ​said the change would take effect on Monday.

Wiles, who submitted her resignation on Thursday night, will move to Trump’s political operation, according to a White House official.

Trump had been displeased with ​his ​political and communications operations in the run-up ​to Tuesday’s election as his public approval ratings fell ‌near record lows.

This week, he said the White House needed to be “more aggressive” as Democrats retake congressional power, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Wiles’ allies in the White House began sharing concerns with others on Wednesday about her potential replacement, the person said.

“He’s rewarding those most loyal to him. He’s ​not changing course,” said another White House official.

-with AAP