How long will Wiles remain in office, and what game is she playing? After all, during Trump’s first four years, the White House cycled through four chiefs of staff, and three of his campaigns seemed to be in constant reboot, with rival personalities emerging as “first among equals.” And Wiles, a shrewd Florida-based lobbyist, rarely makes uncalculated moves.
By Philip Elliott
On the night Donald Trump reclaimed the presidency, he invited his campaign manager, Susie Wiles, to step onto the stage to accept the applause. She declined. When his team decamped to Harvard for a two-day public meeting about the campaign, Trump’s top aide stayed in Florida. And as she prepared to take up her office in the West Wing, Wiles repeatedly made clear she had no patience for anyone seeking the spotlight. “My team and I will not tolerate gossip, inappropriate doubts, or drama. These are counterproductive to the mission,” she told Axios ahead of Inauguration Day.
All of this stands in stark contrast to the image of Wiles that suddenly emerged on Tuesday, after Vanity Fair published a series of 11 interviews she gave to a scholar of White House chiefs of staff. In them, Wiles speaks with striking candor—and perhaps with little regard for protocol—about Trump and the team she runs on his behalf.
While Trump has dubbed her the “Ice Lady,” she described him as having an “alcoholic personality,” in the sense that he “acts with the conviction that there is nothing he cannot do.” (Trump, as is well known, does not drink alcohol.) And while Trump has repeatedly called her “the most powerful woman in the world,” she returned the compliment by acknowledging that he is often wrong. For someone who preaches a mantra more suited to Obama’s “no drama” team, Wiles added plenty of spice to Washington’s political stew with these conversations—conducted sometimes from her office and sometimes from her home laundry room. “I never seek attention,” she said in one interview.
Perhaps. But her revelations plunged Washington into its familiar guessing game: how long will Wiles stay in the job, and what game is she playing? After all, during Trump’s first four years, the White House went through four chiefs of staff, and three of his campaigns appeared to be perpetually rebooting, with rival personalities emerging as “first among equals.” And Wiles, a savvy Florida-based lobbyist, rarely makes uncalculated moves.
Still, Trump relishes this kind of drama. The former reality-TV host doesn’t punish people for challenging his agenda, but for being credited with shaping it. Here is where Wiles may have scored points: her comments portray the administration as driven by Trump’s directives. Even when she takes a defiant stance, she remains above all the executor of his will, acting on his wishes even when she disagrees. On tariffs, Wiles said there had been a major dispute over how to proceed. Trump imposed them anyway.
On retaliation against political opponents, she said there had been a vague understanding that he would cool down after about 90 days in the White House. That didn’t happen. On the pardon of 1,500 people convicted for their roles in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, she said she had been outvoted.
On the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), she said simply that she was shocked. And on the ongoing saga of the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Wiles said Trump was wrong to keep insisting that former President Bill Clinton had a role in the scandal. Meanwhile, Trump is mentioned in the files, Wiles acknowledged, adding that there is nothing suspicious. For her part, Wiles said Tuesday that the author, Chris Whipple, had taken her remarks out of context and omitted positive assessments of Trump and his team. According to her, it was a “hit piece.” The White House insisted that Wiles continues to enjoy Trump’s confidence.
Still, Wiles did not deny any of her quotations, including labeling Vice President J.D. Vance a “conspiracy theorist” who joined Trump’s movement out of self-interest, suggesting that former Trump adviser Elon Musk used microdoses of ketamine when posting incendiary statements on X, and accusing Attorney General Pam Bondi of mismanaging the Epstein story.
These seemingly unguarded moments gave life to what many in Washington already suspected or knew firsthand. But Trump hates giving opponents a win, and anything less than defending Wiles would run counter to his instincts. After all, when his first national security adviser this term was criticized for mistakenly sending sensitive information about military operations to a journalist, he was sent to the U.N. Even so, Wiles’s moment of revelation marked a sharp break from the image of the quiet aide Trump invited to speak on election night at his Florida club. “Susie likes to stay somewhat in the background,” Trump said. “The Ice Lady. That’s what we call her.”
Now, she may find herself left out in the cold—at least briefly—while everyone tries to figure out how long the thaw will last. (NYT)