“Tough, smart, innovative, and universally admired and respected” is how the 2024 president-elect and former President Donald Trump described his campaign manager and now Chief of Staff appointee Susan Summerall Wiles, more commonly known as Susie Wiles. Along with Chris LaCivita, an experienced Republican political strategist, Ms. Wiles ran one of the most successful, disciplined and effective electoral campaigns of Mr. Trump than the ones he led in 2016 and 2020.
The 67-year-old political lobbyist, considered quiet and unassuming, is feared and respected within and outside the party. Quite contrarily to other people close to Mr. Trump, the U.S’s first female Chief of Staff keeps away from the limelight and prefers to ‘work in the background’.
Her demeanour has earned her the epithet of ‘Ice Maiden’, a title even Mr. Trump used during his victory speech while congratulating her on her work on the presidential campaign.
Seasoned strategist
Ms. Wiles is a seasoned political strategist with her first major stint in electoral politics being with Ronald Reagan for his 1980 presidential bid.
Since then, Ms. Wiles has worked in the electoral campaigns of a wide range of Republican candidates — from moderate candidates such as former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman Jr. (who criticised Mr. Trump after the capitol siege in 2021) to current Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Early beginnings
Ms. Wiles met Mr. Trump in 2015 and became his campaign manager for the State of Florida during his 2016 presidential run. Following her success there, Ms. Wiles also headed the successful gubernatorial campaign of Mr. DeSantis to Florida in 2018.
However, a falling out between the Governor and Ms. Wiles led to him dismissing her when he assumed power and actively sabotaging her relationship with Mr. Trump who then dropped Ms. Wiles from his campaign during his 2020 presidential run.
Ms. Wiles later used her knowledge of working with the Governor against him when he ran against Mr. Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination for President.
Her successful strategy for Mr. Trump made Mr. DeSantis look out of touch and lacking personal charisma.
Rocky road ahead
The Chief of Staff of the White House is the head of the U.S. President’s Executive Office. They act as the President’s confidante, advising him on key policy matters while also overseeing staff appointments to the executive office, directing and managing the flow of information between different offices of the President, and most importantly regulating access to the President (that is, deciding on who is or is not allowed an audience with the U.S. President).
Ms. Wiles apparently was very keen on the last point. According to CNN, she had told Mr. Trump that she would only take on the role if she was given power to control access to him in the Oval Office.
Being the Chief of Staff, Ms. Wiles will have her work cut out. Between 2017 and 2021, President Trump went through four different Chiefs of Staff. His brazen, crude and unpredictable nature has made him difficult to work with. Moreover, his refusal to be ‘controlled’, or worse, reprimanded has led to sour relations with a lot of his staff over the years such as his former political strategist Steve Bannon and former communications head Anthony Scaramucci.
Out of his Chiefs of Staff, his second appointee in 2017, John Kelly has been one of his most vocal critics. Mr. Kelly, who had a military background and was seen as politically neutral, was brought in to bring more order to a very chaotic President’s office in 2017.
However, Mr. Trump’s aversion to the restrictions Mr. Kelly put on his office brought things to a head and he left the position after almost a year-and-a-half. He has since gone on record to state that “Mr. Trump met the definition of a fascist, would govern like a dictator if allowed, and had no understanding of the Constitution or the concept of rule of law.”
However, Susie Wiles, whose father is Pat Summerall, an NFL player and later sports broadcaster, has worked with Mr. Trump since 2016 and is yet to fall out of favour with him. Her steely disposition has earned her the former President’s trust.
But while she is a seasoned lobbyist, her lack of experience holding government office might work against her. It remains to be seen whether Ms. Wiles will be the one who can finally ‘tame the shrew’.
Published – November 10, 2024 01:51 am IST
