David French

They were there as Trump's subjects.

And so that was not necessarily an array of the power structure of the administration.

It was sort of a Trump has always been a billionaire with pretenses to be seen as sort of the alpha billionaire.

And this is the alpha billionaire showing the other billionaires who was boss.

So that's January 20th, 2025.

But you fast forward to right now, and I would even narrow the circle that Emily had smaller.

I would say the real power is Stephen Miller primarily.

And this gets to the Lord of the Rings analogy.

Grima, Wormtongue, and Theoden, where you had an old-

I know, I can't help it.

An old decrepit king who is being influenced by a malignant and malicious voice.

But it's a little bit more complicated than that, obviously.

And I would say real power is, of course, Stephen Miller at apex.

Vote also.

I think Rubio has had a surprising amount of influence, but then there's also this other dynamic that always exists with Trump.

He's got Stephen Miller, he's got his advisors, and then he's got the last person he talked to.

And so it is very well known that Trump is often influenceable in the moment.

And then a Stephen Miller will come in and backfill and kind of get Trump back on track in Stephen Miller's track.

So I really do see...

that one year apart, he was marking who he lorded over on January 20th, 25.