Trump answers defeat by defiantly naming Stephen Miller chief of staff

Appointing Stephen Miller to replace Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, President Donald Trump signaled he'll adopt a combative approach to dealing with the incoming Democratic-controlled Congress. Indeed, notwithstanding the differences between a democratically elected leader in peacetime and a despotic dictator in wartime, this is Trump's equivalent of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's Order No. 227.

Issued in July 1942, Order No. 227 came alongside a successful German offensive that threatened key Soviet interests. The order instructed Red Army forces to hold ground at all costs and to shoot troops who retreated...