Stephen Miller and Richard Spencer Organize White Nationalist Speaker at Duke University

While students at Duke University, Stephen Miller and white nationalist leader Richard Spencer collaborated to organize a speaking event featuring Peter Brimelow, founder of anti-immigration hate site VDARE. Miller and Spencer, both members of Duke’s Conservative Union, arranged for Brimelow to debate journalist Peter Laufer on Mexican immigration in what Spencer later described as “pretty edgy” for 2007. An email from Spencer stated: “At 6:45 Stephen Miller and I will leave early to do more set-up,” demonstrating their direct coordination. Spencer later revealed: “I knew him very well when I was at Duke… We worked on an immigration debate, which we brought Peter Brimelow to campus.” Spencer also stated, “Clearly I was influencing him” regarding Miller’s white nationalist ideology. When confronted years later, Miller denied the relationship, telling Mother Jones: “I have absolutely no relationship with Mr. Spencer. I completely repudiate his views.” However, emails and eyewitness testimony from multiple sources directly contradict Miller’s denial. This collaboration at Duke established Miller’s formative connection to organized white nationalism that would shape his entire political career, from his time as Jeff Sessions’ communications director through his role as Trump’s senior policy advisor implementing family separation, the Muslim ban, and mass deportation policies rooted in white nationalist ideology.