When Stephen Miller left the White House in 2021, the key adviser to Donald Trump turned in his badge with a parting quip: "I’ll see you in four years.”
Almost immediately, Miller and a cadre of loyalists set about devising a flurry of actions and orders they would unleash if the 45th president was able to mount a comeback.
The fine print was later drawn up in a nondescript building in West Palm Beach, the nerve center of Trump's 2024 campaign and, eventually, the transition. A floor-to-ceiling likeness of Trump — bearing the words "Welcome to the Thunderdome” — covered one wall. The team repackaged some of Trump’s first-term priorities to make them more likely to become entrenched. And they were girded for legal fights they expected, if not sought — in part thanks to the work of conservative groups founded by Miller and other Trump allies after his 2020 election loss.
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