Navigated to The Making of an Autocrat: recruit an architect

The Making of an Autocrat: recruit an architect

Dec 28, 2025
17 mins

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Episode Description

Every autocrat needs a clan of loyalists, strategists, masterminds – these are the figures behind the scenes pulling the strings.

They’re unelected and unaccountable, yet they wield a huge amount of power.

This is the role Stephen Miller has played for Donald Trump – he is the architect in chief for the second Trump administration. He has so much power, in fact, he’s reportedly referred to as the "prime minister"

So who is Stephen Miller? And why are architects so important in helping a would-be autocrat amass power?

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