Do you remember Stephen Miller’s “might makes right” declaration? It was part of a January 2026 interview on CNN – two days after the U.S. military operation that seized Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores.
His assertion could stand in for a central or organizing principle in the second Trump administration – the doctrine this government is so confidently, if not entirely successfully, prosecuting (amidst an otherwise incoherent, chaotic policy performance). Miller told the interviewer, Jake Tapper:
“You can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world — in the real world, Jake — that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world that have existed since the beginning of time.”*
Ah, yes, that old bill of goods: the strong ‘naturally’ earn their increase because the weak inevitably decline. In Miller’s proposition, strength is not only the driving principle of human history. He goes even bigger – it’s existential: brute force is simply the fundamental way the world works. It’s an eat or be eaten world, church!
While unattractive, Miller’s take is hardly a surprise to anyone watching this Administration. ‘Bully on the playground’ is most often its way, maybe even its default position.
In our current maelstrom of right-wing populism and MAGA Trumpism, these movements see themselves — style themselves — as muscular reactions to and the necessary corrective for the failure of last half of the 20th century’s weak and debilitating liberalism. “Own the libs!”
Of course, the first question is did liberalism fail? Or did it produce a lasting peace and prosperity that allowed many nations to disinvest in military readiness and transfer freed resources to the education and health care for their populations?
That’s probably more a political question. But for the populists right now, all mutual benefit and cooperation – any talk of the greatest good for the most people – is suspect. These soft concerns, the ‘give and take towards some broad-based betterment’ are fallacies that cannot hold up in the harsh “law of the jungle” realities of our world.
Miller, Trump et al., want to insist that humanity prospering and civilization advancing are about hierarchy and dominance. In an eat or be eaten environment, there are two choices – who wins and who loses. It’s sink or swim. Or coming out on top in the necessary conflict of market and military.
The “niceties” of political liberalism – Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité – are just illusions or lies. ‘Woke sensibilities’ – concerns for systemic inequalities and marginalization – are just weakness, like empathy or solidarity. In such a worldview, there’s no room for justice or morality. The rule of law doesn’t apply to the powerful. Political authority doesn’t demand the consent of the governed. Individuals don’t possess inherent, inalienable rights simply because they are human. And violence is no longer a last resort to be used only when upholding justice, defending the weak, and enforcing what is ethically correct.
None of that. In Trump world, as articulated by his deputy Miller, humanity runs on bald, brutal power, the sole engine for progress. Might makes right.
Hear then the Israeli academic and author Yuval Noah Harari’s response to Miller… Harari gives Miller’s assertion dismissive short shrift.
Harari is a historian at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. His training was as a medievalist and military historian; his academic work began with the Thirty Years War, the 17th century central European bloodletting between Protestants and Catholics (that was the impetus for the German Reformed emigration that caused the founding of Old First). Harari is also the author of popular books, “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,” “Homo Deus: A Brief History of the Future,” and “21 Lessons for the 21st Century.”
Harari’s thought focuses on cooperation which he posits as the primary human capability that is the fundamental engine of human achievement. It’s what explains how humans have gone from being creatures that could never fight off a bear or a lion to being the creators and directors of the complex societies we now inhabit.
Listen to Harari’s response to Miller’s advocacy of autocratic rule and diplomacy:
“That the whole of the history of philosophy and spirituality is an argument with exactly that (Miller’s) point of view. That the only reality is power. The only reality is force. And from the viewpoint of a historian, it’s clear that this is not the case.
If the only human reality were brute force, we would still be living in tiny hunter-gatherer bands in the African savanna. Because the whole of human history is about how you get more people to cooperate and to trust each other, and you cannot do that only with brute force.”
Hear one of our spiritual traditions arguments against Miller’s survival of the fittest and dog eat dog worldview and behavior, Jesus preaching:
“And Jesus began to speak and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:2-13)
Which world do you want to live in, the one Miller describes or the one Jesus describes?
Our progressive Christianity is among the many and diverse spiritual and philosophical arguments that Harari says is in direct argument with Miller’s “eat or be eaten” point of view.
I for one am happy to stand, even march in line with the people of various faiths and the philosophers. It’s just a better place to be than where Miller and Trump are positioning themselves. You might be happy to be on the other side, over against Trump and Miller. I am glad not to be alone.
Archaeologists say that finding an ancient skeleton with a healed femur is one of the earliest signs of human compassion, altruism, community, civilization. Let’s try and stay with what’s best about being human…
In faith and courage,
Michael
Rev. Michael Caine is the Senior Pastor at The Old First United Church of Christ in Old City Philadelphia.
Edited and published by Rev. Renaldo McKenzie, Senior Editor, Content Chief and President of The Neoliberal Journals and The Neoliberal Corporation
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