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Tim Miller (political strategist)

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Tim Miller
Born (1981-12-25) December 25, 1981 (age 42)
Littleton, Colorado, U.S.
EducationGeorge Washington University (BA)
Occupation(s)Political consultant, writer
Known forJeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign communications director
Republican National Committee spokesman
Never Trump movement
Political partyRepublican (before 2020)
Independent (2020–present)
SpouseTyler Jameson[1]
Children1
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Tim Miller (born December 25, 1981) is an American libertarian[2] political commentator, writer and former political consultant. He was spokesman for the Republican National Committee during Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential bid, and communications director for Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign. Following Bush's defeat, Miller became an early and prominent Republican critic of Donald Trump. He outlined his reasons for this decision in his 2022 book Why We Did It, which became a New York Times best seller.[3]

Miller is a writer-at-large for the anti-Trump conservative opinion website The Bulwark, and having succeeded Charlie Sykes in 2023, host for the Bulwark's daily podcast.[4] He contributes as an MSNBC analyst, and has written for magazines such as Rolling Stone and Playboy.[3]

Early life

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In 2000, Miller graduated from Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, Colorado, and in 2004 he graduated from George Washington University with a BA in political science.[5]

McCain and Bush campaigns

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A Littleton, Colorado native, Miller started out in Republican politics as an intern working on the 1998 Colorado gubernatorial election.[6][7] He later earned a bachelor's degree from the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs.[8]

Miller was an Iowa staffer for John McCain in the 2008 Republican Party presidential primaries, and later served as national press secretary for the Jon Huntsman 2012 presidential campaign.[8] In his role with the Huntsman campaign, Miller was credited by Esquire for making its daily email to reporters "surprisingly hip".[9] After the primary, Miller joined the Republican National Committee as its liaison to Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign.[10]

In 2015, Miller was hired by former Florida governor Jeb Bush to be a senior adviser to his presidential exploratory committee, Right to Rise political action committee (PAC), and went on to serve as the communications director for Bush's presidential campaign.[8][11][12] During the campaign, Miller drew notice as a "vocal critic" of Donald Trump.[13] Following a 2016 South Carolina Republican primary debate, Miller followed Trump around the spin room heckling him until Miller was "hip-checked" by Trump campaign strategist Corey Lewandowski.[14]

Anti-Trump advocacy

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Miller joined the anti-Trump Our Principles PAC (political action committee) following Bush's exit from the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, and then drew notice for lambasting Trump supporters with whom he appeared on-air.[15]

Following Trump's election, Miller announced that he had donated to Doug Jones, the Democratic opponent of Republican nominee and accused sex offender Roy Moore in the 2017 United States Senate special election in Alabama to fill Jeff Sessions' seat.[16][17] In 2020, he co-founded the advocacy organization Republican Voters Against Trump, which sponsored television and internet advertisements featuring lifelong Republicans explaining their rationale for voting for Joe Biden instead of Trump, and served as its political director.[10][18] He was included in The Washington Post 2016 list of Republicans "who hate Donald Trump the most".[19] In November 2020, he announced he had left the Republican Party.[20][21]

Miller has been a member of the Definers Public Affairs, an opposition research-styled consulting firm since 2016. The group circulated a research document in 2018 linking anti-Facebook activists with financier George Soros—a frequent subject of antisemitic conspiracy theories—on behalf of Facebook.[22] As a result of the controversy, Facebook ended its relationship with Definers.[23]

Media career

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In February 2024, Miller replaced Charlie Sykes as host of The Bulwark Podcast.[24] He is also an MSNBC contributor,[25] a frequent guest on progressive outlet Crooked Media's Pod Save America podcast,[16][10][23] and co-hosts a regular series on Brian Tyler Cohen's YouTube channel called Inside The Right.[26]

He is a writer for The Bulwark and Rolling Stone.[10][27] He has written in support of Omar Ameen, an Iraqi refugee accused by Trump of being a member of ISIS.[28] A Rolling Stone column by Miller seeking on background comments from reluctant Republican Trump supporters elicited a widely shared quote, "There are two options, you can be on this hell ship, or you can be in the water drowning".[27]

His memoir of working in pre-Trump era Republican politics, Why We Did It: A Travelogue From the Republican Road to Hell, was published by Harper in June 2022.[29] The book details Miller's political career, analysing the rise of Trump and the motivations of Republican politicians who remained firmly loyal to the MAGA movement,[30][31] and reached #2 on The New York Times non fiction list in July 2022.[32] The book was positively received for its writing style and analysis of political changes within the post-Trump GOP during the late 2010s and early 2020s.[33][34] In a review for The New York Times, Jennifer Szalai called the book "darkly funny" and praised Miller's insights into the inner workings of the Republican Party and the Washington D.C. political scene.[35] New York Times columnist David French wrote that it offered "painful" insights into the impact of partisanship and Trumpism on the American conservative Right.[32]

Books

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  • Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell, Harper (June 28, 2022). ISBN 0063161478
Review

From any dark experience springs something hopeful and good. In the Trump years, that bright side has been Tim and his compatriots who took up arms to fight the MAGA scourge. Before this book, I understood why the crazies and kooks went along with Trump, but now I fully grasp why smart, supposedly ‘normal’ Republicans did, too. Tim’s observations are clear-eyed, wise, brutally honest, and darkly hilarious. Everyone should read this book, especially fellow Democrats who want to better understand our political foes.[36]

— James Carville

Personal life

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Miller is openly gay, and in May 2018 married Tyler Jameson with whom he has an adopted daughter.[1][37] He attributes his decision to take the risk of coming out in 2007, while still working on Republican campaigns, in part to the Larry Craig scandal.[10] In 2023, he relocated from Oakland, California to New Orleans, Louisiana with his husband and child.[22][28]

References

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  1. ^ a b Sherman, Jake; Palmer, Anna; Lippman, Daniel (May 13, 2018). "Playbook: Happy Mother's Day!". Politico.
  2. ^ Lovett, Jon (May 1, 2024). Tim Miller Reacts to Trump’s Terrifying Plan For a 2nd Term. Crooked Media - Pod Save America. Event occurs at 24:09. Retrieved October 25, 2024. It's not been a good quarter century for the libertarians among us.
  3. ^ a b "Welcome to the New Era of Political Memoir, Where Leaving Readers Uneasy Is the Point". Elliott, Philip. Time (magazine), July 20 2022. Retrieved November 22 2024.
  4. ^ Tani, Max. "How Tim Miller and The Bulwark became 2024’s unlikely YouTube stars". Semafor, September 23, 2024. Retrieved 26 September, 2024
  5. ^ "Regis Jesuit High alumni page". Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  6. ^ Bleiker, Carla (July 14, 2020). "Republican Anti-Trump campaigner: Trump presidency 'an utter disaster'". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  7. ^ Bohlen, Teague. "Why He Did It: Tim Miller on Trump and the Republican Road to Hell". Westword. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
  8. ^ a b c Allen, Mike (February 20, 2015). "Big hire for Jeb: Tim Miller as comms director". Politico. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  9. ^ Jones, Chris (October 11, 2011). "Huntsman Never Stood a Chance. Now Maybe He Still Does". Esquire. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  10. ^ a b c d e Daniel, Walters (October 30, 2020). "One of the country's biggest Never Trumpers owes part of his journey to Larry Craig's 'wide stance'". Inlander. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  11. ^ Sarlin, Benjy (February 20, 2015). "Jeb Bush snags opposition research star Tim Miller for 2016". MSNBC.com. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  12. ^ Garcia, Michelle (February 22, 2015). "Jeb Bush Picks Opposition Researcher, Gay Republican Tim Miller For Campaign Team". The Advocate. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  13. ^ Isenstadt, Alex (March 1, 2016). "Anti-Trump super PAC adds top Bush adviser". Politico. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  14. ^ Coppins, McKay; Gray, Rosie (March 21, 2016). "Trump Campaign Manager Faces New Allegations Of Pushing, Sexually Suggestive Comments". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  15. ^ Moore, Jack (March 11, 2016). "Shrimpy Trump Supporter Burned by Jeb's Former Spokesperson on Live TV! Sad!". GQ. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  16. ^ a b Broverman, Neal (November 17, 2017). "Gay Former Spokesman for Jeb Bush Endorses Roy Moore Opponent". The Advocate. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  17. ^ Greenwood, Max (November 21, 2017). "GOP operative: 'I just donated to a Democrat for the first time' in Alabama Senate race". The Hill. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  18. ^ Karni, Annie (May 28, 2020). "Get Republicans to Vote Against Trump? This Group Will Spend $10 Million to Try". The New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  19. ^ Cillizza, Chris; Blake, Aaron (May 7, 2016). "The 10 Republicans who hate Donald Trump the most". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  20. ^ Hall, Colby (November 23, 2020). "Joe Scarborough: How Can I Return to a Republican Party That Stayed Silent While Trump 'Shredded Constitutional Norms?'". Mediaite. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  21. ^ Miller, Tim (November 22, 2020). "Goodbye To All That". The Bulwark. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  22. ^ a b Nicas, Jack (November 21, 2018). "How Facebook's P.R. Firm Brought Political Trickery to Tech". The New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  23. ^ a b Isaac, Mike; Nicas, Jack (November 15, 2020). "Facebook Cuts Ties With Washington Firm That Sought to Discredit Social Network's Critics". The New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  24. ^ Sarah Longwell, Jonathan V. Last (February 5, 2024). "Some news from us: The Bulwark is growing". The Bulwark. Retrieved February 12, 2024.
  25. ^ "Tim Miller: Republicans 'were saying the right things' after Jan 6, but now defense is 'even worse'". MSNBC.com. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
  26. ^ Inside the Right with Tim Miller
  27. ^ a b Glasser, Susan B. (July 16, 2020). "Trump's Losing, So When Are Republican Candidates Going to Abandon Him?". The New Yorker. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  28. ^ a b Riotta, Chris (February 14, 2020). "Meet the California Republican who helped create the Never Trump movement – and is willing to vote for Bernie Sanders". The Independent. Archived from the original on May 7, 2022. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  29. ^ Szalai, Jennifer (June 29, 2022). "'Why We Did It' Is a Dark Ride on the 'Republican Road to Hell'". The New York Times. Retrieved June 29, 2022.
  30. ^ Chait, Jonathan (July 7, 2022). "Scenes From the Republican Surrender to Trump". Intelligencer. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
  31. ^ "Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell by Tim Miller". www.publishersweekly.com. June 2022. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
  32. ^ a b "Tim Miller Asks the Question Every Conservative Must Answer". The Third Rail. July 8, 2022. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
  33. ^ Elliott, Phillip (July 20, 2022). "Welcome to the new era of political memoir". Time. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
  34. ^ WHY WE DID IT | Kirkus Reviews.
  35. ^ Szalai, Jennifer (June 29, 2022). "'Why We Did It' Is a Dark Ride on the 'Republican Road to Hell'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
  36. ^ "Tim Miller - Why We Did It". Left Bank Books, August 12, 2022. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  37. ^ Hounshell, Blake (June 29, 2022). "A Republican Insider Studies His Burned Bridges and a Combustible G.O.P." The New York Times.
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