After her appointment by Donald Trump, Susie Wiles will become the first female chief of staff in US history, a position of great influence that acts as a guardian and gateway to the president.
The position of chief of staff is usually the first appointment of elected presidents and its responsibilities may include the transition of power between the outgoing and incoming governments. Once Trump is sworn into office, Wiles will also be in charge of internal White House policy, managing day-to-day operations and serving as the president’s advisor and confidant.
At 67, Wiles is a veteran of the world of Florida politics. He began his career in the 1970s working for New York Congressman Jack Kemp in his Washington office. She later worked with Ronald Reagan, during the election campaign and as a coordinator in the White House when the Republican won the presidency.
Wiles then moved to Florida, where he advised two Jacksonville mayors and worked for Congresswoman Tillie Fowler. He then worked on state-level campaigns in aggressive Florida politics. He is credited with contributing to the arrival of businessman Rick Scott to the Florida Government.
After briefly managing Utah Governor Jon Huntsman’s presidential campaign during the 2012 primary; Wiles went on to run Trump’s campaign in the Florida primary in 2016, a victory that helped the magnate win the White House.
Two years later Wiles helped elect Ron DeSantis as governor of Florida. But she and DeSantis began to drift apart, and in 2020 the governor asked Trump’s campaign team to cut ties with Wiles, who had returned to run the then-president’s Florida campaign.
Wiles ended up running Trump’s campaign in the primary against DeSantis in which the real estate mogul defeated the Florida governor. Trump campaign aides and other allies who were not part of his team spent the campaign gleefully mocking DeSantis. They made fun of his laugh and his way of eating. They said he had raised boots and used inside information that, according to a shared suspicion, came from Wiles and other members of the Trump team who had had bad experiences working with DeSantis.
Wiles joined Trump’s team in his third campaign, serving as “chief of staff.” de facto” in the last three years of his successful re-election bid; and helping him work with attorneys on the various criminal and civil cases against him.
“Susie Wiles just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history and has been a critical part of my successful campaigns in 2016 and 2020,” Trump said in a statement. “Susie is tough, smart, innovative, and everyone admires and respects her.”
Trump mentioned it again during his victory speech in Palm Beach, Florida. “Susie likes to stay more or less in the rearguard, let me tell you; the ice lady, we call her the ice lady,” he said.
A “force more perceived than seen,” they wrote about Wiles in Politico, where they credited him with making the former president’s last campaign “more professional than his undisciplined and spontaneous antecedents.”
Both allies and detractors of Trump credit him with having introduced the discipline and focus necessary for Trump’s political triumph. Wiles, who considers herself a moderate, maintains good relations with journalists and is knowledgeable about all aspects of running a campaign.
There are also those who define her as a person who is contributing to Trump’s dictatorial ambition. “Susie Wiles is too intelligent a human being, and too sophisticated a political operator, not to understand it,” Fernand Amandi, a Miami Democratic Party pollster and MSNBC analyst, told Politico.
Wiles has been able to control Trump’s worst impulses. Instead of reprimanding or lecturing him, you do this by earning his respect and showing him that you do better when you follow his advice than when you disregard it. In Pennsylvania, when Trump gave a much-criticized stump speech in which he went off-topic to suggest he wouldn’t mind being shot at the media, Wiles watched him in silence.
Trump often mentioned Wiles during the campaign, publicly praising her for her leadership in what was his “best-run campaign,” many told him. “She is incredible, incredible,” he said in early November during a rally in Milwaukee.
In his first term, Trump had several chiefs of staff: Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee; John Kelly, retired Marine general; Mick Mulvaney, former congressman from South Carolina; and Mark Meadows, former representative of North Carolina.
The president often disagreed with or tired of the chiefs of staff he appointed. A few weeks before the election, retired General Kelly said Trump fit “the general definition of a fascist.”
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