west palm beach, florida
CNN
—
Dozens of smiling people lined up early Wednesday morning as Donald Trump was elected America’s next president. Among them were three generations of family members, longtime friends, key advisers, a running mate, close political allies, and Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White. It was Donald Trump. The remarkable political revival was barely noticeable among the celebratory crowd.
Susie Wiles often likes it that way.
Mr. Wiles has been a modest but formidable force behind Mr. Trump’s third presidential bid, operating within his discretion and wielding influence away from the spotlight. Now, as the president-elect steers his way back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Mr. Wiles finds himself in an unprecedented position. On Thursday, President Trump named her the next White House chief of staff. This role cemented her as the most trusted advisor, and she is the first woman to hold that title.
“Susie is tough, smart, innovative and admired and respected around the world,” President Trump said in a statement. “Susie will continue to work tirelessly to make America great again.”
For the 67-year-old Wiles, this new title is both unlikely and historic. A strategist known more for her quiet calculations than for her public actions, she seems at first glance out of place in President Trump and his vast trajectory of fame-seekers, celebrities, flame-mongers and megalomaniacs. It looks like. A grandmother and dog lover, she enjoys baking and bird watching.
In public, she hides behind a polarizing aviator. When people talk to her, what they often hear back is themselves.
President Trump invited Susie to speak at his victory party in West Palm Beach on Wednesday, saying, “Susie likes to be in the back.” She declined and handed the microphone to co-campaign manager Chris Lacivita.
But for many of President Trump’s closest allies, it’s Wiles’ unassuming style that guarantees her longevity. Since President Trump left Washington in turmoil, Mr. Wiles has deftly steered his political machine out of Mar-a-Lago, instilling a level of discipline and order rarely associated with the former president.
She is competent, amiable, respected and feared, a powerful combination in the world of former presidents. Those close to her have suggested that her success with Trump lies in her balanced approach. She refrains from trying to stop him, but she knows when to push back.
Meanwhile, President Trump gave her the apt nickname “Ice Maiden.”
“Whether they like Susie or not, everyone around him agrees that she won’t cause any problems,” said Michael Caputo, a former Trump administration official close to both Trump and Wiles, in 2022. He told CNN in 2017.
What Wiles’ rise suggests about President Trump’s governing style remains unclear.
Trump’s third bid for the White House has relied heavily on dark themes, violent depictions and promises of retribution, sparking rifts within Trump over whether to pursue swift retribution or soften the tone of his campaign. It is occurring.
The selection of Wiles, who has friendly relations with many Democrats and is known for his cooperative attitude toward the press, in sharp contrast to President Trump’s “enemy of the people” rhetoric, signals the president-elect’s early intentions. Some of the concerns of the left have been allayed.
“She’s brilliant, tough, and strategic,” Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D) wrote on Thursday’s X. “She will serve the country well.”
Wiles may not be a regular in Washington, but he understands the inner workings of government from his years as a Washington, D.C., lobbyist. As of Thursday night, Mr. Wiles was still listed as co-chairman of national lobbying firm Mercury’s Florida and Washington, D.C., offices. Neither Mr. Wiles nor Mr. Trump’s transition team immediately responded to questions about whether Mr. Wiles would soon resign from his position at Mercury.
Mr. Wiles served as president of a subsidiary of tobacco company Swisher International until 2023 at Mercury, according to a database maintained by Open Secrets, a government watchdog nonprofit.
She previously worked at Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm with deep ties to President Trump’s funding machinery, whose clients include automaker General Motors and defense contractor Total Military Management, as well as fossil fuel and These included energy advocacy groups funded by the United States and the Children’s Hospital Association.
Mr. Wiles ran what many considered Mr. Trump’s most disciplined and strategic campaign and was credited with successfully alienating many fringe voices in his orbit. are. Throughout much of the campaign, she played an important but thankless role. Her role oversees the flight manifest for President Trump’s private planes, and she often had to act as a gatekeeper when the former president was reluctant to turn people away.
Her ability to navigate around Trump is best illustrated by the broad support she has received from Republicans from all walks of life in the party. Charlie Kirk, leader of the right-wing youth voters group, and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy both praised Wiles as being qualified for the job.
“Susie Wiles ran one of the best Trump campaigns, but it wasn’t a particularly close race,” Kirk wrote about “X.” “She is disciplined, intelligent, and doesn’t seek the spotlight. She will make a great chief of staff. The president, and America, will be well served by Susie in that important role.” ”
But before agreeing to take on the role, Wiles sought assurances from Trump that he would have more authority than his predecessor in controlling access to the Oval Office, people close to both men said. revealed.
During President Trump’s first term, his chiefs of staff faced constant challenges as unofficial advisers, family members and other outside influences participated in meetings with the president. Trump has a tendency to be swayed by the last person he spoke to, a well-known dynamic among his aides that has made it particularly difficult for them to maintain order in the West.
“Clown cars cannot freely enter the White House,” the official said. “And he agrees with her.”
Still, history suggests the clock is already ticking on her role. President Trump had four chiefs of staff during his first term, but the longest-serving chief, John Kelly, lasted just 17 months. Reince Priebus, who first took the job, once said, “Take everything you’ve heard and multiply it by 50,” referring to the chaos that engulfed the early years of the Trump administration.
Nor did this position lead to an innocent dismissal. Disillusioned with the end of his term, Kelly resigned after repeated clashes with Trump and has given a series of interviews in recent weeks in which he has described his former boss as a fascist. Mr. Kelly’s successor, Mick Mulvaney, has refused to endorse Mr. Trump in recent campaign events.
Trump’s last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, was forced to testify before a federal grand jury during the special counsel’s investigation into the former president’s handling of classified documents and Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. . The House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol voted to hold Meadows in contempt for refusing to meet with him, but the Justice Department declined to file charges.
Wiles, a veteran Florida political operative and lobbyist, has been instrumental in Trump’s political operations since his first presidential campaign, when he helped steer his campaign in the Sunshine State. . Still, it was an unlikely combination.
Wiles, the daughter of the late NFL sportscaster Pat Summerall, entered politics as an assistant to U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp, a former teammate of her father’s with the New York Giants. Although Kemp was deeply conservative, he was often described as a “happy warrior” who was unable to attack his political opponents.
It was an attribute that characterized many of the men she worked with in politics for more than 40 years. She worked on Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign and later worked in his White House. She has advised several Jacksonville mayors and established a highly regarded consulting shop. After successfully luring an unknown businessman named Rick Scott into the Florida Governor’s Mansion in 2010, she directed former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman’s short-lived presidential campaign. His fair-minded approach to politics was the exact opposite of Trump’s. After Huntsman resigned, Wiles switched to running Mitt Romney, a fellow Mormon, for president.
Wiles first met Trump in a Manhattan tower in 2015 at a meeting arranged by her then-boss, lobbyist and fundraiser Brian Ballard. When she joined his presidential campaign, it sent a shockwave through Florida’s political class, which had largely aligned itself with Florida’s sons Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio in the Republican presidential primary.
Trump’s mercurial demeanor didn’t always match Wiles’ professional style. CNN previously reported that in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign, Trump berated Wiles in a late-night meeting, blaming him for polls that showed him losing in Florida. She considered quitting, but he toyed with cutting her losses just 10 days before the election.
“In her words, it was a way she had never been spoken to in her life,” a source familiar with the exchange told CNN in 2022.
But Mr. Trump ignored the incident, and his Florida victory gave Mr. Wiles a reputation as the oracle of the Sunshine State. Two years later, Mr. Trump sent Ms. Wiles to rescue the chaotic campaign of his handpicked Florida gubernatorial candidate, Ron DeSantis, and she was able to lead him to a narrow victory.
But DeSantis eventually grew distrustful of Wiles, privately accusing her and allies in his office of favoring lobbying clients. In late 2019, Mr. DeSantis removed her from his political activities and urged Mr. Trump to do the same. Trump endorsed DeSantis and removed Wiles from his re-election team.
Wiles will get revenge on DeSantis in this year’s Republican presidential primary. The day Mr. DeSantis ended his bid for the White House, Mr. Wiles, who has a limited social media presence, posted “Bye.”
President Trump brought Wiles back as he became increasingly dissatisfied with his ranking in Florida polls. He then gave her near-unfettered freedom to run her Florida campaign as she saw fit. In the final months of the campaign, she and political strategist James Blair oversaw an innovative operation to find new Trump supporters in communities that had not traditionally embraced the Republican Party or electoral politics.
Mr. Wiles and Mr. Blair brought Trump’s approach to 2024 and extrapolated the strategy across battleground states, leading to a landslide victory for Mr. Trump in the Electoral College. Trump is also likely to become the first Republican in 20 years to win the popular vote.
During the campaign, Wiles was always by Trump’s side, accompanying him to nearly every campaign stop. Still, she stayed out of the spotlight until the final week of the race. Republicans fired back by lifting up Wiles after businessman Mark Cuban told “The View” that President Trump was avoiding “strong, intelligent women.”
The touts continued Thursday. “President Trump has chosen a strong and intelligent woman to be his White House Chief of Staff,” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio posted on social media.
