Investigating whether Stephen Miller's speech at Charlie Kirk memorial included Nazi subtext
 

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Miller allegedly "plagiarized" from Adolf Hitler's propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels.

By Nur Ibrahim

On Sept. 21, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump and members of his administration, including White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, spoke at a memorial service for the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The Turning Point USA co-founder was shot dead Sept. 10 during a Utah college speaking event. Police later arrested a suspect, Tyler Robinson.

In the aftermath, Republicans such as U.S. Vice President JD Vance sought to paint the shooting as a result of "left-wing extremism" even though investigators have not connected the suspect to any left-wing groups, as of this writing.

Miller, an architect of Trump's most exclusionary immigration policies who has has been accused of expressing white nationalist rhetoric, also spoke at Kirk's memorial. Many online compared his words to those of Joseph Goebbels, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's propaganda chief. According to one post, Miller "plagiarized" his speech from a 1932 Goebbels address titled "The Storm is Coming":

Stephen Miller's speech at Charlie Kirk's memorial was essentially plagiarized. See if you can spot the similarities.

The Storm is Coming by Joseph Goebbels (1932)

"So our dead comrade Horst Wessel wrote, and we are fulfilling his prophesy. The others may lie, slander, and pour their scorn on us — their political days are numbered."

"They promised you, workers, citizens and creative Germans, a Reich of freedom and beauty and dignity."

"People, rise up, and storm, break loose!"

"You are the witnesses, the builders, the will-bearers of our idea and our worldview."

"Well, we the people have awakened! We have risen against oppression, 15 million people have joined in an army of revenge."

"You, men, women and comrades, are the bearers, witnesses, builders and finishers of this unique people's uprising… We have served the truth, and only the truth. For twelve years, they have insulted and outlawed and slandered and persecuted us."


Miller's and Goebbels' speeches have rhetorical similarities, including the use of "storm" imagery, the call to people to "rise," the exhortations to "build," and the idea of seeking vengeance for the death of a key figure in their movements. Miller did not plagiarize Goebbels' speech word for word, but some similarities exist. Furthermore, Democrats and watchdog groups have accused Miller of frequently promoting and repeating neo-Nazi and white nationalist views.

While we cannot outright confirm that Miller copied Goebbels' speech, we can observe the similarities. Whether Miller intended for such similarities to appear can only be confirmed by Miller himself. We have reached out to The White House to learn more about Miller's inspirations for the speech. A spokesperson did not respond to our queries and questioned the basis for writing such an article.

Below, we analyze the language of Miller's speech and compare it to Goebbels' "The Storm is Coming," which Goebbels delivered in Berlin just weeks before the Nazis would win elections to become the largest German political party.

Miller began his speech with a reminder of Kirk's death and the "righteous fury" that would result (emphasis ours):

The day that Charlie died the angels wept. But those tears had been turned into fire in our hearts. And that fire burns with a righteous fury that our enemies cannot comprehend or understand.

In his 1932 speech, Goebbels referenced Horst Wessel, a member of the Nazi paramilitary forces whom Communists fatally shot in 1930. Nazi propaganda turned him into a martyr, as he had also written song lyrics that later became a Nazi Party anthem. Goebbels used Wessel's death to call for revenge against the enemies of the Nazi Party (emphasis ours):

Our campaign spreads to all of Germany, and once again the ears hear, the eyes see, the heart beats faster and the senses clear:

"The day of freedom and prosperity is coming!"

So our dead comrade Horst Wessel wrote, and we are fulfilling his prophecy. The others may lie, slander, and pour their scorn on us — their political days are numbered.


Like the title of Goebbels' speech "The Storm is Coming," Miller frequently referenced a "storm" in response to Kirk's death (emphasis ours):

When I see [Kirk's widow] Erika and her strength and her courage, I'm reminded of a famous expression: "The storm whispers to the warrior that you cannot withstand my strength, and the warrior whispers back, I am the storm."

Erika is the storm. We are the storm. And our enemies cannot comprehend our strength, our determination, our resolve, our passion.


Goebbels stated in the 1932 speech: "Together we share the words of the poet: 'People, rise up, and storm, break loose!'"

Goebbels continued by heralding the ascent of Hitler, who he said represented millions of workers and farmers. He then exhorted listeners directly: "You are the witnesses, the builders, the will-bearers of our idea and our worldview."

Miller, too, referenced the idea of building (emphasis ours):

Our lineage and our legacy hails back to Athens, to Rome, to Philadelphia, to Monticello. Our ancestors built the cities. They produced the art and architecture. They built the industry.

[…]

We are the ones who build. We are the ones who create. We are the ones who lift up humanity. You thought you could kill Charlie Kirk. You have made him immortal. You have immortalized Charlie Kirk. And now millions will carry on his legacy. And we will devote the rest of our lives to finishing the causes for which Charlie gave his last measure of devotion. You cannot defeat us. You cannot slow us. You cannot stop us. You cannot deter us.


Both speeches called for revenge, with Goebbels stating (emphasis ours):

Well, we the people have awakened! We have risen against oppression, 15 million people have joined in an army of revenge. They who accepted their nice suits from the Sklareks [Jewish brothers involved in a Berlin financial scandal] can hardly imagine that an honest German worker will spend his starvation wages for a decent brown shirt.

Miller stated (emphasis ours):

The light will defeat the dark. We will prevail over the forces of wickedness and evil. They cannot imagine what they have awakened.

They cannot conceive of the army that they have arisen in all of us because we stand for what is good, what is virtuous, what is noble. And to those trying to incite violence against us, those trying to foment hatred against us, what do you have? You have nothing. You are nothing. You are wickedness. You are jealousy. You are envy. You are hatred. You are nothing. You can build nothing. You can produce nothing. You can create nothing.

Miller's speech also referenced civilization and the West: "You have no idea how determined we will be to save the civilization, to save the West."

Whether Miller directly drew from Goebbels' speech is pure speculation, though both relied on propaganda's rhetorical tools that political figures have used throughout history. Criticism of Miller over his alleged history of promoting white nationalist and neo-Nazi views, as well as his restrictive immigration policies, is necessary context.