Trump could’ve learned lessons from the midterms. Instead, he promoted Stephen Miller.

A few weeks ago, during a brief Q&A, a reporter asked Donald Trump if he was considering replacing Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff. "Zero chance," the president replied . "Zero."

Acting as if he were annoyed at the idea of replacing Wiles, he added, "She's smart. She's tough. She just went through a lot with the cancer surgery and the whole thing, and she recovered, fully recovered. She's phenomenal. … Susie is here and she's going to be here for a long time."

A lot can change, apparently, in three weeks. MS NOW reported :

President Donald Trump on Friday announced Stephen Miller will replace Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff in a White House staffing shakeup that comes after the midterm elections provided a resounding rebuke of the president's party.

Miller, a staunch Trump defender and immigration hard-liner who helped execute the president's mass deportation agenda, will take over for Wiles on Nov. 9, Trump said.

According to a statement the Republican published to his social media platform , Wiles "will be moving over to the Trump Political Operation."

Examples abound of sitting presidents shaking up their teams after a midterm election cycle, especially one in which their party suffered significant losses. But as a rule, such overhauls are designed to be constructive or corrective, responsive to the circumstances and conducive to future governance.

Trump's announcement is the opposite of that. In fact, it's powerful evidence that, if anything, he learned all of the wrong lessons from the voters' unambiguous verdict on his failing presidency. By elevating Miller, Trump seems to be preparing to be more confrontational, more aggressive and more resistant to compromise or cooperation with the soon-to-be Democratic-led Congress.

Miller is the embodiment of Trump's worst instincts, an enabler of the president's radicalism. Earlier this year, The Atlantic described the White House aide as the man who turns the president's "most incendiary impulses into policy."

On Tuesday night, as it became clear that Republicans were suffering a historic smackdown, Trump told The New York Times , "We'll, you know, look forward to working with" Democrats. Eyeing possible bipartisan deals, he said, "We'll probably work something out." Around the same time, during a brief interview with CBS News , the president said, "My message is, congratulations to the Democrats, and I look forward to working with you for the good of our country."

Then, three days later, he elevated Miller, which all but guarantees the White House will never work with the sizable Democratic majorities for the good of … anybody.

This is Trump digging in his heels, signaling to the world that in his final two years in office, he won't just be worse, he wants to be worse.

Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, who will likely soon chair the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement in response to the news, "Days after Americans nationwide historically rebuked the Trump administration's excesses, cost increases, and chaos, President Trump is making it clear he is refusing to listen. Instead, it appears he is doubling down on the disastrous policies and personnel that voters resoundingly rejected.

"Stephen Miller is an extremist, polarizing figure who has dedicated his career trying to roll back the rights of every American."

There's a broader governing dynamic to keep in mind as the new seating arrangement in the West Wing takes root. Trump, for all intents and purposes, is finished — he's not only an unpopular failure, but he no longer seems especially interested in even doing the job. In recent days, he's made this clear by focusing effectively all of his attention on assorted vanity projects, from the Reflecting Pool to the ballroom , the helipad to designating the Oval Office a national monument .

His aesthetic preoccupations are indefensible on their own terms, but the announcement Friday afternoon makes the situation vastly worse: If Trump's sole obsession is renovations and interior design, the staffing shake-up means that, functionally, Miller is left to oversee the executive branch until January 2029 — which is every bit as scary as it sounds.

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