Trump to appoint Stephen Miller in White House, who once said gay Pop Tarts were ‘sexualising kids’

President-Elect Donald Trump is expected to announce that he will appoint Stephen Miller as his White House deputy chief of staff for policy, according to reports. 

Miller had a previous White House role during Trump’s first administration, where he served as a senior advisor to the president-elect and as director of speechwriting. During Trump’s previous presidential term, Miller was involved in developing many of the then-president’s immigration policies, including the 2017 travel and refugee ban and the 2019 family separation policy. 

The former senior advisor also once filed a complaint over “woke” breakfast foods, claiming that gay Pop-Tarts were “sexualising children”. 

Miller made a formal complaint in August 2023 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in which he accused Kellogg’s of targeting children via marketing campaigns which “politicize and sexualise its products”.

Miller’s right-wing nonprofit organisation America First Legal previously tweeted a list of products which they believed fit the bill, including Pop-Tarts’ 2022 collaboration with GLAAD.

We are beyond proud to partner with NEON powered by @GLAAD to create the limited-edition “NEON Pink Block Party Lemonade” Pride Box, featuring the crazy good and crazy joyful designs of queer illustrator Thaddeus Coates. pic.twitter.com/fs7bk8ABls

— Pop-Tarts (@PopTartsUS) June 2, 2022

The product in question was a Pride edition pink lemonade-flavoured toaster pastry with a neon pink filling which featured designs by queer illustrator Thaddeus Coates. There was nothing sexual about the advert. 

The organisation also appeared to target Kellogg’s Pride Cereal, which was released in October 2022 and featured rainbow heart-shaped cereal and the brand’s popular mascots on the box. The complaint also highlighted RuPaul’s feature on the Cheez-Its box in September of that year, and Tony the Tiger being pictured with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney at the Tony Awards.

It claimed: “Kellogg’s is yet another big corporation that will break the law and hurt its shareholders’ interests to serve the twisted woke ideology of its officers and directors.”

This is another fantastic pick by the president. Congrats @StephenM! https://t.co/2kQCmbcRy3

— JD Vance (@JDVance) November 11, 2024

America First Legal also alleged that Kellogg’s had “unlawful employment practices” and “favoured groups at the expense of others because of their skin colour“.

At the time, a spokesperson for Kellogg’s told The Independent: “At Kellogg, our aspiration is to better reflect the diversity of our consumers and to strengthen our inclusive culture. We are committed to compliance with all applicable employment laws, and we have policies in place that prohibit workplace discrimination.”

Trump is yet to officially announce Miller’s appointment, but CNN reported the news on Monday (11 November) and cited two sources close to the matter. Later on the day, Vice President-Elect JD Vance appeared to confirm the reports on X, when he shared his congratulations for Miller.

He wrote: “This is another fantastic pick by the president. Congrats @StephenM!”