On October 7, 2025, in what might generously be called a “CNN moment” (though it felt more like a YouTube conspiracy livestream accidentally slipped into prime time), Stephen Miller declared with a straight face that Donald Trump has “plenary authority.” He said it in the kind of lawyerly monotone that makes you think it’s a technical term, when in fact what he was describing was complete, absolute power. The same kind of power Adolf Hitler claimed when the Reichstag voted itself into irrelevance in 1933.
And then, as if to prove that reality has a sense of humor, CNN posted a clipped version of the segment online—sans the fascism bit. On the live broadcast, you could hear it. Online? Gone. Trimmed like a rogue nose hair.
This is not just a slip. This is dangerous. Because when men like Stephen Miller say “plenary authority,” they aren’t whispering sweet legal jargon. They’re announcing the blueprint: unlimited executive power, unchecked by Congress, courts, or even the faint memory of a Constitution.
“Plenary Authority”: A Fancy Way of Saying Dictator
Let’s define terms. “Plenary” comes from the Latin plenus, meaning “full.” As in full, complete, absolute. When Miller says Trump has plenary authority, he is claiming Trump has authority without limits. No Congress, no courts, no laws.
That’s not “strong leadership.” That’s not “decisiveness.” That’s dictatorship, complete with the historical parallels Miller is too slippery to name outright. It’s Hitler in 1933 with the Enabling Act. It’s Mussolini declaring “I am the state.” It’s Orbán, Erdogan, Putin.
Only now it’s Miller smiling into a CNN camera, testing whether America will notice.
Why It Matters That CNN Cut the Clip
The live broadcast showed it. Miller said it. The words “plenary authority” rang out like a fire alarm. But CNN’s official upload snipped that part away.
This is how normalization works. A dangerous idea is spoken aloud. The press acknowledges it in real time. And then—quietly, surgically—the most alarming parts vanish from the curated record. What remains is just another debate segment, another talking head.
But the real danger is not the clip. It’s the fact that the idea is now in the bloodstream. Once uttered on mainstream television, it doesn’t matter if CNN tries to tidy it up for YouTube. The word is out. The test balloon has been floated.
The Echo of 1933
German citizens in 1933 did not wake up one morning under Hitler’s totalitarianism. They woke up under euphemisms. Under legalisms. Under men explaining calmly that the leader needed “extraordinary authority” to deal with “crises.”
Plenary authority is today’s euphemism. It sounds scholarly. It sounds like something your con law professor might drone on about. But it is the same concept that allowed Hitler to sideline parliament and consolidate dictatorship.
Miller knows this. He’s counting on you not knowing it.
Why Miller Said It
Miller is not careless. He is not gaffe-prone. He is not the sort of person who accidentally compares Trump to Hitler and then shrugs.
No, this was deliberate. Saying “plenary authority” is a way of smuggling fascist doctrine into polite conversation. It’s a way of testing whether America will push back. If there’s outrage, they can say: “Oh, you’re overreacting. It’s just a legal term.” If there’s silence? Congratulations, the Overton window just shifted.
That’s how authoritarian movements work: they advance inch by inch, word by word, until one day the words have become law and the law has become a cage.
The CNN Problem
Let’s be brutally honest: CNN trimming the clip is worse than Fox News amplifying it. Because Fox is expected to normalize authoritarianism. CNN’s role, at least theoretically, is to spotlight it.
By cutting the “plenary authority” line, CNN did what every enabling institution in history has done: sanitize, soften, depoliticize. They turned a live fascist slip into just another talking point. They clipped democracy’s obituary into a digestible reel.
And so the public doesn’t see the danger. They see another cable spat. The threat slides by.
Why This Is Dangerous
It legitimizes dictatorship as a legal option. By using a scholarly term like “plenary,” Miller disguises the reality: he is endorsing dictatorship. He is making fascism sound like a footnote. It trains the base. MAGA activists now have a new phrase to chant. “Plenary authority” sounds respectable, like something you could wear on a tie. But its meaning is absolute control. It warns the opposition. This was not for Democrats. It was a signal to loyalists: Trump’s power will not be constrained. Congress will not stop him. Courts will not stop him. If you want to resist, prepare for a fight. It echoes history. Every authoritarian regime begins with legal language. Stalin had “emergency decrees.” Hitler had “enabling acts.” Miller is testing “plenary authority.”
What We’re Up Against
We are not debating policy differences. We are not in a normal left-right dispute. We are confronting the same threat German citizens confronted in 1933: a political movement openly flirting with absolute power.
The difference is that we have the benefit of hindsight. We know how this story ends if unchecked. Camps, silenced dissent, militarized streets, democracy reduced to ritual without substance.
Miller has told us the plan. He has said it out loud. Pretending otherwise is self-delusion.
Why Jokes Won’t Save Us (But Satire Helps)
Yes, Miller looks like a haunted ventriloquist dummy. Yes, “plenary authority” sounds like a rejected Marvel villain power. Yes, CNN’s editing is cowardly.
But laughing alone won’t save us. We cannot dismiss this as “just Miller being Miller.” Authoritarians love when their opponents mock instead of mobilize.
That said, satire does one thing well: it pierces the veil of respectability. So let’s say it clearly: Stephen Miller went on CNN and proposed dictatorship. CNN cut it, like a parent hiding cigarettes from the kids. And unless we treat it as the alarm it is, the words will metastasize into policy.
Curtain Call
Stephen Miller didn’t slip. He declared. He told America that Trump has plenary authority—complete, absolute power. The power Hitler claimed. The power dictators always claim.
CNN’s choice to sanitize the clip doesn’t erase it. The words were spoken. The intent was clear. And the danger is real.
This is not about one creepy aide’s rhetoric. It is about whether we, like German citizens in 1933, will shrug while men in suits explain calmly that the leader’s power must be absolute.
We now know exactly what we’re up against. Pretending otherwise is just cutting the clip.