Matthew 23

23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

Stephen Miller preaches his gospel;

"It’s not a coincidence that when you look at these violent antifa demonstrations and you see any photograph of those who were assembled — to be blunt, not one of the people that is demonstrating looks like a normal person,” he said. “Not one looks normal. They’re all deformed in some way — in their appearance, in their dress, in their mannerism.”

At other points, he described protesters against the administration’s immigration sweeps as “radical leftists,” “political terrorists” and a “cancer” on civilization (three times); argued that “left-wing terrorism” would lead to gulags, “mass imprisonment of political enemies” and “the stripping of their rights and freedoms”; and said the protesters had “scarred their body and their appearance” to the point that “in many different ways, to the point in which “their outer appearance becomes a manifestation of their inner hatred.”

In just a few minutes, Miller’s speech employed many of the rhetorical patterns that scholars of political violence and authoritarianism have long identified as warning signs: portraying opponents as an existential threat, equating dissent with terrorism, using dehumanizing and disease-based language, making apocalyptic predictions and suggesting that people’s physical appearance reflects their inner moral depravity.

But the most jarring moment came when Miller tried to claim the religious high ground.

“The leftist looks at what is beautiful and what is good and what is natural and is filled with envy and hatred,” he said. “The leftist looks at a perfect family with the perfect life and a perfect job and perfect kids that go to church every Sunday and is filled with a feeling of inadequacy and jealousy. They covet, and they turn those emotions ultimately into a desire to subjugate, oppress, and inflict pain and suffering.”

Miller is confusing his personal, and cultural, preferences with God’s.

13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.

16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ 19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

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27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!