There is something interesting happening within the Trump administration right now. Somewhere, buried in the bureaucracy, anonymous sources are telling reporters to tell the rest of us: You know Stephen Miller, that bargain bin Reinhard Heydrich who has shot to number one on the list of creatures that American parents tell their children are hiding under the bed and will eat/deport them if they are bad? That glowering gasbag who looks like a cross between the bald aliens from the Star Trek episode “The Cage” and a rectal polyp? Yeah, that dude is basically running America right now instead of the president, and it really should terrify you, and we hope someone who has more balls than we do figures out how to rein him in!

Or something to that effect, we’re paraphrasing.

The latest story blaring the alarm was published in The Guardian on Monday. In it, three sources “familiar with the situation” say Miller is the one directing the American military to blow up alleged Venezuelan drug smugglers on the high seas, in direct violation of international law. The reporters note that at times, Miller’s role “superseded that of Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and national security adviser.”

In Rubio’s defense, he has always seemed like the sort of dude who fully turtles when someone gets even mildly irritated with him. We imagine the possibility of being on the wrong end of one of Miller’s infamous harangues has him hiding under his desk.

Here is how the boat targeting allegedly works. Miller is head of something called the Homeland Security Council (HSC). We had never heard of it either:

Miller empowered the HSC earlier this year to become its own entity in Donald Trump’s second term, a notable departure from previous administrations where it was considered part of the national security council and ultimately reported to the national security adviser.

So basically, Miller split off part of the NSC that he could run himself, thereby slicing it from Marco Rubio’s portfolio and giving himself more power.

As a result, the HSC has taken the lead on engaging the Venezuelan boats, the people said, a situation evidenced by his top deputy, Tony Salisbury, and others being the gatekeepers to details about what boat to strike until they are about to occur.

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