Trump’s biographer Michael Wolff previously said on The Daily Beast Podcast that the president has a less-than-flattering nickname for one of his most loyal henchmen: “Weird Stephen.”
Honestly, even with his brain mostly rotted away now, little glimpses of Trump's idiot-savant ability to bully at a grandmaster level can still shine through sometimes.
Each one sounds like he lost his train of thought mid-utterance, distantly heard himself finish the "nickname", and is too much of a wuss to not double down & own it, every time.
Yeah, me thinks the lady doth protesteth too much.
I'm not going to read this article because I like to minimize the amount of Stephen Miller in my life, but I'm just going to assume that they're referring to sex dolls.
Honestly, if this is true it means there's some tiny kernel of humanity in that hateful ball of wrath. I would encourage this behavior. Sure, keep it behind closed doors because it does look odd but man, that guy is just a robot of hate and fear and vitriol.
It's not what it looks like, don't worry, he's still a cunt. Those dolls were trophies that ICE confiscated from children they were deporting, he likes to imagine holding them out to taunt their crying rightful owners.
::: spoiler Tap for spoiler
The man with the dolls is Lewis Prothero, the primary propagandist of the fascist government and former commander of the concentration camp that V was a resident of. This scene ends with him traumatized to the point of institutionalization. This is one of the running themes of the book where insanity is a byproduct of actually understanding the camps for what they were.
:::
But yeah highly recommend reading the comics. It's a really good take for a series from the 80s exploring what British fascism would look like.
Got it. I tried to watch the movie but I wasn't into it. I may check out the comics, they are clearly a masterpiece. Sometimes you don't have to look at too much of something to tell.
I'm personally very much a fan of both the comic and the movie
The overall plots are largely the same, the comic of course has a little more space to flesh things out.
Which does actually work against it at times, there's a point where V just kind of goes off on a lecture about anarchy for a couple pages, which is interesting but maybe not the most exciting comic book reading you'll ever do, and certainly wouldn't have translated particularly well to the screen, so overall I don't mind most of the changes they made of
Both the comic and movie are very much a product of their times and places. The comic is very much a reaction to Thatcherism in the UK, the movie more to post-911 Bush-era America.
The movie probably resonates more with me personally, but I'm also a product of that time and place. The comic strikes me as a little more timeless.
I didn't watch the movie but I found the political lectures from V to be very fitting. Yeah it's preachy from Moore, but it's Moore and V saying "hey, V isn't an anarchist because he kills fascists and breaks laws, anarchism is an ideology and he's clinging to it as the opposite of fascism"
Yeah, don't get me wrong I enjoyed his lectures, it's just very much not going to be everyone's cup of tea and certainly not something that would have translated well to a movie
Oh yeah ironically I think the lectures are even more important to do the story justice in a filmed medium. The comic keeps demanding you turn your brain on but people resist that in movies and movies (and tv) struggle to get people interacting critically with themes. The movie's cultural impact was politically confused when you could do a voice over of him explaining anarchism during one of the scenes, a montage, or broken up throughout the "The Land of Do-As-You-Please" section of the story or in Evie's lessons.
I don't think it would've been super popular among audiences or the production company, but it would've been really hammering in the themes and points that the comic was appropriately heavy handed with.
I highly recommend it. I never saw the movie but I've heard the differences described as the movie is about the bush administration vs the anti war movement while the book is a very British story about British fascism vs British anarchism. It's not afraid to acknowledge the diversity of victims of fascism and it's not afraid to call fascists losers with weird relationships to sex (sex is a major theme of the book).
Alan Moore is a master of his craft, and his craft is left wing comics. There's a reason a large portion of left wing men are die hards about Watchmen. Vandetta is clearly his first big project, but it hits like a truck and has scenes that stick with you.
It's definitely a book to be aware of political and literary themes in. It's not a story about a noble hero fighting powerful villains. It's a story about someone who's been psychologically broken taking revenge because his fellow victims can't, against weird evil freaks like goebbels, as he tries to help someone who grew up in this world.
Spoilers, I guess, for a 40 year old comic (the plot in the movie is a bit different)
::: spoiler spoiler
In the comic, Lewis Prothero (played by Roger Alam in the movie) is one of central figur of the ruling Norsefire party. He is responsible for the "Voice of Fate" radio broadcasts (although the party propaganda is that it is the Fate supercomputer making the broadcasts itself) and was formerly the commander of a concentration camp.
He collects dolls, and is kidnapped by V placed in a mock-up of the camp with his doll collection dressed as prisoners, and tortured by V burning his dolls in front of him.
I believe in the movie you can catch a glimpse of his doll collection in the background of a couple scenes, but that plotline is changed quite a bit.
:::
Of all the things one could find fault with Miller, porcelain dolls are not even on my list. A man who openly stated that he would have red states send their National Guards into uncooperative blue states without permission, and folks are talking about whether or not he has what sounds like an innocuous if not unusual hobby.
Interestingly enough, it's the attacks like this (similar to Waltz's "weird" messaging) that actually get under fascists' skin. It undermines their (let's face it, performative) masculinity, which undermines their perceived power, and that is everything to them.
I’ve always been kinda torn on making fun of fascists for that sort of thing, because I personally don’t care whether or not he plays with porcelain dolls but I know he and his supporters A LOT.
I treat it as pointing out the hypocrisy. If you want to do it in a non-derogatory way, you can be overly supportive of his hobby and how he sets an example that men, too, can play with dolls. The more you double down on that, the more it'll piss off the assholes.
Correct, Daily Beast is a real news website. They have a strong leftward bent and tend to spin things more than more serious publications but they do report on real news and are not satire
72 Comments
Formfiller@lemmy.world · 173 pts · 345d
Lon3star@lemmy.world · 36 pts · 344d
Nailed my immediate thought
Formfiller@lemmy.world · 37 pts · 344d
So lon3star now you see evil will always win because good is dumb
Lon3star@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 344d
He's not totally wrong
regedit@lemmy.zip · 17 pts · 344d
foggy@lemmy.world · 102 pts · 345d
Well, I've never thought about it until now but I've never been more sure that he has regular tea parties with a doll collection.
mcbenavides85@piefed.social · 40 pts · 345d
zabadoh@ani.social · 12 pts · 345d
But deporting them is too much trouble! We should put them in concentration camps!
And when there are less of them we can fill the empty spots with other subhumans who give us trouble! Yay! /s
GeeDubHayduke@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 344d
I agree, Clyde Frog! Send em to Alligator Auschwitz!
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 11 pts · 344d
I wouldnt be surprised, hes very self-conscious, he dyed his SCALP to make it look like he had hair once, until people called out how silly he looks.
PhilipTheBucket@piefed.social · 77 pts · 345d
Honestly, even with his brain mostly rotted away now, little glimpses of Trump's idiot-savant ability to bully at a grandmaster level can still shine through sometimes.
TheBat@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 344d
PhilipTheBucket@piefed.social · 16 pts · 344d
"Meatball Ron" was another stroke of real genius. "Sloppy Steve" was another decently good one, but honestly, "Weird Stephen" is fuckin' perfection.
otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 6 pts · 344d
Each one sounds like he lost his train of thought mid-utterance, distantly heard himself finish the "nickname", and is too much of a wuss to not double down & own it, every time.
WizardofFrobozz@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 344d
“Put your hand DOWN, Little Steve!”
GeeDubHayduke@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 52 pts · 344d
The fact that this administration denied it, tells me it's 110% TRUE.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 15 pts · 344d
Yeah, me thinks the lady doth protesteth too much.
I'm not going to read this article because I like to minimize the amount of Stephen Miller in my life, but I'm just going to assume that they're referring to sex dolls.
Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 344d
Heh I think they're referring to regular dolls. I bet he dresses em nice and has tea parties.
renrenPDX@lemmy.world · 41 pts · 344d
OK South Park, you know what to do!
otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 16 pts · 344d
I see your schwartz is as big as mine!
Sabata11792@ani.social · 34 pts · 344d
I haven't heard this one, but if the white house has to come out with a statement, I have to assume he plays with dolls.
GreenKnight23@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 344d
that's really weird.
I was talking with someone yesterday and we wondered,
#where are the Epstein files?
Deflated0ne@lemmy.world · 32 pts · 345d
They aren't dolls. They're GI Joes.
SanctimoniousApe@lemmings.world · 24 pts · 345d
Pretending he's a "real American hero" like them.
Never mind the article says they're porcelain. No wonder he's so fragile.
Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de · 5 pts · 345d
Even if they are dolls to us, to him, they are action figures.
rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works · 28 pts · 345d
unbeasted:
https://archive.is/20250915001811/https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-insists-stephen-miller-does-not-play-with-dolls/
Honestly, if this is true it means there's some tiny kernel of humanity in that hateful ball of wrath. I would encourage this behavior. Sure, keep it behind closed doors because it does look odd but man, that guy is just a robot of hate and fear and vitriol.
betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world · 28 pts · 345d
It's not what it looks like, don't worry, he's still a cunt. Those dolls were trophies that ICE confiscated from children they were deporting, he likes to imagine holding them out to taunt their crying rightful owners.
Fondots@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 345d
PhilipTheBucket@piefed.social · 9 pts · 345d
Is this "Weird Tales"? I found some of them in a comics collection when I was little and some of the stories fucked with me.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 345d
It's V for Vandetta. Spoilers ahead
::: spoiler Tap for spoiler The man with the dolls is Lewis Prothero, the primary propagandist of the fascist government and former commander of the concentration camp that V was a resident of. This scene ends with him traumatized to the point of institutionalization. This is one of the running themes of the book where insanity is a byproduct of actually understanding the camps for what they were. :::
But yeah highly recommend reading the comics. It's a really good take for a series from the 80s exploring what British fascism would look like.
PhilipTheBucket@piefed.social · 10 pts · 345d
Got it. I tried to watch the movie but I wasn't into it. I may check out the comics, they are clearly a masterpiece. Sometimes you don't have to look at too much of something to tell.
Fondots@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 344d
I'm personally very much a fan of both the comic and the movie
The overall plots are largely the same, the comic of course has a little more space to flesh things out.
Which does actually work against it at times, there's a point where V just kind of goes off on a lecture about anarchy for a couple pages, which is interesting but maybe not the most exciting comic book reading you'll ever do, and certainly wouldn't have translated particularly well to the screen, so overall I don't mind most of the changes they made of
Both the comic and movie are very much a product of their times and places. The comic is very much a reaction to Thatcherism in the UK, the movie more to post-911 Bush-era America.
The movie probably resonates more with me personally, but I'm also a product of that time and place. The comic strikes me as a little more timeless.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 344d
I didn't watch the movie but I found the political lectures from V to be very fitting. Yeah it's preachy from Moore, but it's Moore and V saying "hey, V isn't an anarchist because he kills fascists and breaks laws, anarchism is an ideology and he's clinging to it as the opposite of fascism"
Fondots@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 344d
Yeah, don't get me wrong I enjoyed his lectures, it's just very much not going to be everyone's cup of tea and certainly not something that would have translated well to a movie
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 344d
Oh yeah ironically I think the lectures are even more important to do the story justice in a filmed medium. The comic keeps demanding you turn your brain on but people resist that in movies and movies (and tv) struggle to get people interacting critically with themes. The movie's cultural impact was politically confused when you could do a voice over of him explaining anarchism during one of the scenes, a montage, or broken up throughout the "The Land of Do-As-You-Please" section of the story or in Evie's lessons.
I don't think it would've been super popular among audiences or the production company, but it would've been really hammering in the themes and points that the comic was appropriately heavy handed with.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 344d
I highly recommend it. I never saw the movie but I've heard the differences described as the movie is about the bush administration vs the anti war movement while the book is a very British story about British fascism vs British anarchism. It's not afraid to acknowledge the diversity of victims of fascism and it's not afraid to call fascists losers with weird relationships to sex (sex is a major theme of the book).
Alan Moore is a master of his craft, and his craft is left wing comics. There's a reason a large portion of left wing men are die hards about Watchmen. Vandetta is clearly his first big project, but it hits like a truck and has scenes that stick with you.
It's definitely a book to be aware of political and literary themes in. It's not a story about a noble hero fighting powerful villains. It's a story about someone who's been psychologically broken taking revenge because his fellow victims can't, against weird evil freaks like goebbels, as he tries to help someone who grew up in this world.
Also Moore's forward provided helpful context
Fondots@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 345d
Even more appropriately, it's V for Vendetta
Spoilers, I guess, for a 40 year old comic (the plot in the movie is a bit different)
::: spoiler spoiler In the comic, Lewis Prothero (played by Roger Alam in the movie) is one of central figur of the ruling Norsefire party. He is responsible for the "Voice of Fate" radio broadcasts (although the party propaganda is that it is the Fate supercomputer making the broadcasts itself) and was formerly the commander of a concentration camp.
He collects dolls, and is kidnapped by V placed in a mock-up of the camp with his doll collection dressed as prisoners, and tortured by V burning his dolls in front of him.
I believe in the movie you can catch a glimpse of his doll collection in the background of a couple scenes, but that plotline is changed quite a bit. :::
Nosavingthrow@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 344d
I'm starting to think this Miller guy plays with dolls.
MisterD@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 344d
Bald ones
SarcasticMan@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 344d
Sounds like something someone who plays with dolls would say.
jj4211@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 344d
Of all the things one could find fault with Miller, porcelain dolls are not even on my list. A man who openly stated that he would have red states send their National Guards into uncooperative blue states without permission, and folks are talking about whether or not he has what sounds like an innocuous if not unusual hobby.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 13 pts · 344d
Interestingly enough, it's the attacks like this (similar to Waltz's "weird" messaging) that actually get under fascists' skin. It undermines their (let's face it, performative) masculinity, which undermines their perceived power, and that is everything to them.
Archelon@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 344d
I’ve always been kinda torn on making fun of fascists for that sort of thing, because I personally don’t care whether or not he plays with porcelain dolls but I know he and his supporters A LOT.
luciferofastora@feddit.org · 6 pts · 344d
I treat it as pointing out the hypocrisy. If you want to do it in a non-derogatory way, you can be overly supportive of his hobby and how he sets an example that men, too, can play with dolls. The more you double down on that, the more it'll piss off the assholes.
GeeDubHayduke@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 9 pts · 344d
Miller wants to be seen as Big Strong Cowboy Man^TM^. Playing with dolls destroys that image. Porcelain dolls drops a Fatboy on that image.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 19 pts · 345d
Daily Beast is a serious publication, right? Because this legitimately sounds like a Hard Times article.
Seriously, it's been a long time since I read an actual news article that sounded this much like satire.
Trainguyrom@reddthat.com · 2 pts · 344d
Correct, Daily Beast is a real news website. They have a strong leftward bent and tend to spin things more than more serious publications but they do report on real news and are not satire
Zier@fedia.io · 19 pts · 345d
Play? Probably not. But he does have a large box of beheaded barbies under his bed.
RFKJrsBrainworm@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 344d
He keeps the heads with out eyes in his nightstand
Blumpkinhead@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 344d
Wow, so Stephen Miller plays with dolls? That's weird.
Ceruleum@lemmy.wtf · 18 pts · 344d
"It's called action figures"
Etterra@discuss.online · 17 pts · 344d
But what if, now hear me out, we make fun of him in whatever way will make him miserable.
Balaquina@lemmy.ca · 16 pts · 345d
https://youtu.be/LMxTFqPET5I
art@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 344d
Not even like a GI Joe or a respectable Barbie doll? SMH
captain_oni@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 344d
That sounds like serial killer behavior, ngl.
jaschen306@sh.itjust.works · 14 pts · 344d
I don't kink shame. Some people consider their Real Dolls their girlfriends.
Zoomboingding@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 344d
Zoomboingding@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 344d
figjam@midwest.social · 13 pts · 344d
Actually, they are called Genestealers and they are the noble resistance heroes of the setting.
ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one · 5 pts · 344d
Yes, Inquisitor. This one right here. They won't stop talking about the Four Arm Emperor and the Star Gods.
luciferofastora@feddit.org · 2 pts · 344d
Upvoted for absolute heresy.
kadaverin0@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 344d
Mamdani_Da_Savior@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 344d
I heard Stephen Miller loves dolls
T00l_shed@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 344d
As much as vance loves couches
quick_snail@feddit.nl · 11 pts · 344d
Space Balls
WhatGodIsMadeOf@feddit.org · 11 pts · 345d
They are called dildos.
BenLeMan@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 344d
Yeah, just like JD Vance doesn't "play" with couches. 😄
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 9 pts · 344d
Welp, i don't except grown-up things coming from this government anyway.
I'm not talking about the "playing with dolls" part but that it is such an issue. Btw, i do play dolls with my 3 years old niece.
ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one · 2 pts · 344d
Real men will play with dolls cause their comfortable in their masculinity.
theacharnian@lemmy.ca · 9 pts · 344d
Nah, they haven't accused Democrats of playing with dolls so this is probably fake.
resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 345d
Prove he doesn’t.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 344d
Steven Prothero Miller
But fr I don't care if he plays with dolls. My beef is with how he treats humans
JoeTheSane@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 344d
So, he doesn’t play with dolls while he’s on the Hill.
Got it.
BradleyUffner@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 344d
They're collectables!
TheBat@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 344d
frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 344d
I've also heard that Pete Hegseth doesn't use rose-scented skin lotion, and Marco Rubio doesn't like long bubble baths with a glass of wine.
barnaclebutt@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 344d
Lol, he does. He totally does.
kadaverin0@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 344d
JordanZ@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 344d