Donald Trump announced his first personnel choices for his administration on Thursday, naming longtime Republican political operative Susie Wiles, who worked on all three of his presidential campaigns, as his White House chief of staff. Wiles will be the first woman to hold this position.
“Susie is tough, smart, innovative and universally admired and respected,” Trump said in a statement. He also praised her for helping him achieve “one of the greatest political victories in American history.”
As a campaign worker, Wiles, 67, is respected by both Republican and Democratic strategists. She co-chaired Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and is often credited with bringing order to his chaotic political organization.
She worked on several prominent GOP campaigns, including those of Senators Rick Scott and Mitt Romney and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose flailing 2018 campaign she saved. After a falling out with DeSantis, Wiles joined Trump’s 2024 campaign and subsequently caused the governor’s downfall in the Republican primaries.
Wiles, the daughter of late NFL legend Pat Summerall, is known as an effective operative with ties to MAGA leaders and the Republican establishment. She has also managed to resist Trump’s management style, as she is the only campaign manager to have lasted an entire Trump campaign, according to The New York Times.
And perhaps most crucial to her political survival, she seems to know when not to question Trump’s decisions. For example, Wiles reportedly tried to push Trump to reconsider allowing far-right instigator Laura Loomer to travel on his plane to public events in September, but ultimately relented, The Atlantic reported:
Even people like Wiles, who have a reputation for talking Trump out of certain reckless ideas, are learning that you can’t stay at the table if you tell the man “no” one too many times.
As White House chief of staff, Wiles will essentially serve as a gatekeeper for Trump, organizing his agenda, directing White House staff and coordinating with other departments within the administration.
It’s one of the most powerful positions in any administration — and a notoriously difficult one under Trump: He went through four chiefs of staff in his first term, and his longest-serving chief of staff, John Kelly, recently said Trump meets the definition. of a fascist.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
