Stephen Miller Archives - Public Seminar

Education

The Words We Learn to Fear

How authoritarianism begins with the policing of language

December 4, 2025 • by Maria B. Olujic

The Polish poet Czesław Miłosz once wrote, “Language is the only homeland.” I didn’t understand that line until my own country broke apart. Now I see what he meant—when people learn to fear their own words, it is its own form of exile. Two of my uncles learned this early: ...

North America

The New Political Theology

Disestablishing the Establishment Clause

September 24, 2025 • by Arthur Goldhammer

The First Amendment states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Strictly ...

Democracy

A Battle for the Soul of the Nation

A rising number of White House–related COVID cases exposes a presidency in collapse

October 8, 2020 • by Heather Cox Richardson

All weeek, COVID-19 infections have continued to mount in the vicinity of the Oval Office. At least 34 people near Trump have tested positive for the virus in the past few days. The White House press corps is down to a skeleton crew as Press Secretary, Kayleigh McEnany and four ...

Past Present

The Biden-Harris Ticket

Past Present Podcast, Episode 242

August 18, 2020 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Kamala Harris is the 2020 Democratic vice-presidential candidate. Niki wrote about the significance of her candidacy for Inside Story magazine. Natalia referenced historian Martha Jones’s Washington Post essay; Niki referred to Jamelle Bouie’s New York Times op-ed on Harris’s blackness. ...

Past Present

Student Visas

Past Present Podcast, Episode 237

July 15, 2020 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: President Donald Trump has threatened that international students attending American universities that are teaching entirely online must return to their home countries. Niki referred to Adam Serwer’s 2018 Atlantic article, “The Cruelty is the Point,” and to this Washington Post ...

Podcast

Pete Buttigieg, Groypers, and Sesame Street’s 50th Anniversary

Episode 205

November 26, 2019 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: “Mayor Pete,” once a long-shot candidate, is increasingly a serious contender for the Democratic presidential nomination. Natalia referred to Michael Kruse’s POLITICO piece about the electoral viability of a gay candidate. Neil noted Buttigieg had won the 2000 Profile in Courage Essay Contest for an ...

Feature

Stephen Miller and DHS, Measles and the Anti-Vaccination Movement, and Adjunct Professors

Past Present Episode 175

April 16, 2019 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young

In this episode, Natalia, Neil, and Niki discuss the influence of Trump adviser Stephen Miller, the resurgence of measles in the United States and the anti-vaccination movement, and the plight of adjunct professors. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: A spate of departures at the Department of ...

Stephen Miller and DHS, Measles and the Anti-Vaccination Movement, and Adjunct Professors

Feature

The Pathology of Zero Tolerance

Trump administration and its treatment of immigrants

June 22, 2018 • by Sarah Sklaw

Spend enough time in Hebrew school and you may come to fear showers. This euphemism for gas chambers might haunt you. Your ears might prick up at the mention of cleanliness, as you ask what kind of “hygiene” is being promised and to whom? In detention centers in South Texas, Border Patrol ...