Trump answers defeat by defiantly naming Stephen Miller chief of staff

Appointing Stephen Miller to replace Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, President Donald Trump signaled he’ll adopt a combative approach to dealing with the incoming Democratic-controlled Congress. Indeed, notwithstanding the differences between a democratically elected leader in peacetime and a despotic dictator in wartime, this is Trump’s equivalent of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s Order No. 227.

Issued in July 1942, Order No. 227 came alongside a successful German offensive that threatened key Soviet interests. The order instructed Red Army forces to hold ground at all costs and to shoot troops who retreated. As Stalin put it, “… it is time to finish retreating. Not one step back! Such should now be our main slogan.”