Turns out Stephen Miller, Donald Trump’s senior advisor and the man whose disastrous Sunday talk show appearance put his face before the nation, wasn’t the most popular kid in high school. For not only was the Santa Monica High student openly hostile toward the diverse school’s many minority students, but his participation in student activities earned him a great deal of scorn and an election loss to Mark “The Cobrasnake” Hunter, a noted hipster photographer. Yes, he lost his student government bid to a guy known as “The Cobrasnake,” who happens to be an LA legend.
MTV podcaster Molly Lambert spilled the goods on Twitter in response to Univision’s exclusive publication of an hold Santa Monica High student video featuring an offensive rally speech Miller gave at a 2002 rally.
yes Mark "The Cobrasnake" Hunter beat Stephen Miller in a high school election thanks to my Deep Throat for the link https://t.co/xS4OLzatLK pic.twitter.com/BHyUmPrYZB
— Molly Lambert 🦆 (@mollylambert) February 14, 2017
According to LAist, Miller and Hunter — who were taking part in “separate races” — didn’t actually campaign against one another at first. Miller fantastically lost in his attempt to become the next student government speaker, whereas Hunter was elected vice president. However, the pair did run against each other for a spot on the student council. That’s when Miller delivered the speech in question that, as Univision recalled, was “cut off almost immediately”:
“Hi, I’m Stephen Miller, some of you may or may not know who I am,” Miller says, smiling. “We’re not talking about that right now. I’m the only candidate up here who stands out. I would say and I would do things that no one else in their right mind would say or do. Am I the only one who is sick and tired of being told to pick up our trash when we have plenty of janitors who are paid to do it for us?”
Some of the students interviewed in the above video, and more recently by Univision, contend Miller’s speech was “satire” that “most people understood.” Christopher Moritz, a friend of Miller’s at the time, went so far as to say Miller wasn’t being racist since his speech was “kind of a senior prank.” Yet others like Natalie Flores disagreed, saying Miller’s comments were racist since students “knew that our janitors were people of color.” Either way, “offended students got up from their seats and were set to take the stage” when the student body president escorted Miller off of the stage.
But seriously guys… he lost to Mark “The Cobrasnake” Hunter.