Susie Wiles, who was named Donald Trump’s new chief of staff in the White House, will be the first woman in American history to fill the role of the president’s gatekeeper, a position that usually carries great influence.
The position of chief of staff is typically the first appointee an elected president appoints and can oversee the transition from one administration to another. Once Trump is sworn in as president, Wiles will also be responsible for all White House policies, as a confidant and advisor, and for day-to-day affairs.
Related: Trump appoints campaign manager Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff
Wiles, 67, is a veteran of Florida politics. She began her career in the Washington office of New York Congressman Jack Kemp in the 1970s. She then did stints on Ronald Reagan’s campaign and in his White House as a planner.
Wiles then headed to Florida, where she advised two mayors of Jacksonville and worked for Congresswoman Tillie Fowler. This was followed by statewide campaigns in the rough and tumble of Florida politics, with Wiles credited with helping businessman Rick Scott win the governor’s office.
After briefly managing Utah Governor Jon Huntsman’s presidential campaign in 2012, she managed Trump’s campaign in Florida in 2016, when his victory in the state helped him win the White House.
Two years later, Wiles helped get Ron DeSantis elected governor of Florida. But the two would develop a rift that ultimately led to DeSantis urging Trump’s 2020 campaign to cut ties with the strategist as she once again managed the then-president’s statewide campaign.
Wiles ultimately led Trump’s primary campaign against DeSantis and defeated the Florida governor. Trump campaign aides and their outside allies gleefully taunted DeSantis throughout the race — mocking his smile, the way he ate and accusing him of carrying lifts in his boots — and also exploiting inside information that many suspected came from Wiles and others during the Trump campaign. staff who had also worked for DeSantis and had bad experiences.
Wiles joined Trump’s third campaign and served as his “de facto chief of staff” for the past three years to lead his successful re-election campaign and helped him work with attorneys on his various criminal and civil cases.
“Susie Wiles just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history and was an integral part of my successful 2016 and 2020 campaigns,” Trump said in a statement. “Susie is tough, smart, innovative and universally admired and respected.”
Trump also mentioned her in his victory speech in Palm Beach, Florida. ‘Susie likes to stay a bit in the back, I can tell you that. The Ice Maiden. We call her the Ice Maiden,” he said.
In a profile, Politico described her as a “force more felt than seen,” and credited her as the reason the former president’s latest campaign was “more professional than its troublesome antecedents.”
Wiles, who describes himself as a moderate, is also credited — by Trump’s allies and opponents — with giving him the discipline and focus to succeed politically. She is known to maintain good relationships with reporters and has a wealth of knowledge on all aspects of running a campaign.
Some have also described her as a factor in enabling Trump’s dictatorial ambitions. “Susie Wiles is far too smart a person and far too sophisticated a political operator not to understand it,” Fernand Amandi, a Miami-based Democratic pollster and MSNBC analyst, told Politico.
Wiles could help control Trump’s worst impulses — not by reprimanding him or lecturing him, but by earning his respect and showing him that he would be better off taking her advice rather than ignoring it. At one point late in the campaign, when Trump gave a widely criticized speech in Pennsylvania in which he strayed from his talking points and suggested he wouldn’t mind if the media were shot, Wiles emerged to stare at him silently.
Trump often referred to Wiles during his campaign, publicly praising her leadership on what he was often told was his “best run campaign.”
‘She’s incredible. Unbelievable,” he said at a rally in Milwaukee earlier this month.
During Trump’s first term, the president had a series of chiefs of staff: Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, General John Kelly, former South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney and former North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows.
The former president often disagreed with or was fed up with his appointees. In the weeks before the election, Kelly, the retired Marine general, notably said that Trump fits “within the common definition of fascist.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
