New Orleans A White House chief of staff is usually the second most powerful person in government, or at the least in the executive branch, after the president, and that includes Cabinet officials and the Vice-President. To take this even farther, she likely also has more clout and moves more pieces in the government than the party leaders in either house of the US Congress. No one much talks in Trump 2.0 about there being “adults in the room” anymore, like they did in the first go-round. They are all long gone and pushed out to make room for former Trump lawyers, Fox News personalities, and general sycophants. Still, if there was any potential stopgap preventing complete disaster, it would be Susie Wiles, the Trump chief of staff over the last year, who served successfully as his campaign manager during the 2024 election. She was an old hand behind the scenes in Florida politics, who helped make DeSantis governor, until they fell out, and she ended up on the Mar-de-Lago team from there to the big house. At various times in this crazy year, I’ve wondered when and whether she might put her foot down about all the shenanigans.
Now after a year of silence, she suddenly emerges from behind the curtain, and speaks. In a series of interviews for Vanity Fair, reported in the New York Times, she lets loose with critiques across the waterfront that include the president, AG Bondi, VP Vance, State’s Rubio, and more. Some of the highlights include referring to Trump as not being an alcoholic, but having an “alcoholic’s personality,” labeling Vance as a conspiracy dog, claiming Bondi “whiffed it” on the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, saying that Trump knows that claiming Clinton went to Epstein’s private island is a lie, and more. She says she had a “loose” agreement with Trump to stop the revenge tour after 90-days, but that didn’t work, because when he sees an opening, “he goes for it.” She says she was against this or that, like the tariffs, but was “out voted.”
The sphinx has risen, but what’s up here?
The interview was not secret. It almost seems to have been authorized. Vance, Bondi, Stephen Miller, the chief adviser and immigrant hater, all seem to have known and participated. Even in the last week, Trump was calling her “Susie Trump,” so he continues to be a fan. She obviously has opinions and some of her colleagues and maybe even the president might feel her bite now. She softens the sting, as the Times reports because, “Wiles does not view her role as constraining Trump. Instead, she makes clear that her mission is to facilitate his desires even if she sometimes thinks he is going too far.” In plainer words, she’s an enabler.
Something is going on here though. In a White House that hates the press, she would only be given the greenlight for 11 interviews, where she would speak somewhat frankly, after having cleared it with the only person with more power than she has there. Normally, this is the kind of interview that someone would give on their way out the door. She’s said she wants to make it the whole four years, so my guess is this is not her farewell. She has clearly been delegated as a trusted aide to send some messages and fire some shots over some heads.
Still, the interview is the “how,” but we’re still missing the “why.” Are they trying to get people in line? Is there already too much competition between Vance and Rubio on who is going to end up being the “favored son?”
She is clearly trying to end the Epstein mess with some truth telling. She also is sending a message to Noem and ICE that they have gone too far on their deportation rage, citing a bad mistake in departing mothers and children wrongly. She seems to be making a call, even if a weak one, for more competence by the team with less extremes. She’s smart and shrewd. She wants to end the chaos of the first year with something smoother in the second. She’s not really tilting at windmills, but trying to make sure the power flow the way she and Trump want.
None of this means that the country is going to be any better for all of us, but Susie Wiles may be trying to deliver the pain the president wants with less chaos, sound and fury. She will still allow it to hurt, but may hope we won’t notice as much in the future. We’ll see how this plays out.