As President-elect Donald Trump delivered his election night victory speech on Tuesday, he singled out one person for special thanks.
‘Let me also express my tremendous appreciation for Susie…’ Trump said beaming and turning to family and staff crowding the stage at his Palm Beach, Florida campaign headquarters.
‘The job you did. Come, Susie. Come here Susie,’ he beckoned. ‘Susie likes to stay sort of in the back… We call her the ice maiden.’
Then the phalanx of towering, designer-clad women, including Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara and Don Jr‘s fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle, parted and a gray-haired grandmother in a pale blouse and golden hoop earrings stepped forward.
Usually, when Trump invites someone to the lectern they almost trip over themselves to get there. But not Susie Wiles.
The 67-year-old shook the president-elect’s hand and smiled but when he suggested that she ‘say a few words,’ her eyes widened and she vigorously shook her head ‘no’.
Typically, when Trump invites someone to the lectern they almost trip over themselves to get there. But not Susie Wiles (above, left).
This woman, who has been described as the ‘most feared and least known political operative’ studiously avoids the spotlight. Though, we’re all likely to see more of her now.
On Thursday evening, Trump tapped her to be his White House chief of staff — making her the first woman ever named for the role of gatekeeper to the president.
It had been rumored that Wiles — Trump’s de-facto presidential campaign manager and the daughter of a famous (and notoriously troubled) NFL sports broadcaster — had been eyeing this role for some time.
And other names were circulated, like Brooke Rollins, a right-wing lawyer who ran domestic policy in the first Trump administration, and Kevin McCarthy, former Republican Speaker of the House.
It was reported that Trump was looking for a chief with deep experience in Washington D.C., resembling some of his short-lived hires from the first term; Congressmen Mick Mulvaney and Mark Meadows.
But Wiles won out — perhaps for her demonstrated ability to do what Trump’s other chiefs could not — put a leash on the boss.
Despite some tremendous hiccups in the Trump 2024 campaign, including a calamitous September debate performance against Vice President Kamala Harris and a disastrously ill-timed appearance with 9/11 conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer at a 9/11 memorial event, Wiles is credited with running a disciplined operation.
That’s saying a lot in Trumpworld.
But discipline is Susie’s modus operandi.
A Wiles friend and former U.S. ambassador Carlos Trujillo said that the New Jersey native, who cut her teeth in politics as an assistant for a legendary New York Republican politician, makes the trains run on time.
‘Her professional staff is some of the best…and are dead loyal to her and to her vision,’ he said. But her specialty, he claimed, is ‘managing personalities and managing information.’
On Thursday evening, Trump tapped her to be his White House chief of staff — making her the first woman ever named for the role of gatekeeper to the president. (Above) Susie Wiles on ‘Trump Force One’ in 2023
But Wiles won out — perhaps for her demonstrated ability to do what Trump’s other chiefs could not — put a leash on the boss. (Above) Wiles with Trump campaign co-chair Chris LaCivita
A rare deeply personal profile of Wiles published by Politico earlier this year delved into how her difficult upbringing may have perversely prepared her for this role.
As mentioned, she is the daughter of the late Pat Summerall, an NFL player who went on to become one of America’s most iconic sportscasters. He was also an alcoholic.
Summerall, who died in 2013, wrote in his memoir about his drinking and the extra-marital affair that led to his divorce from Wiles’ mother and admitted: ‘My children grew up without me. I failed them as a father.’
The article notes how the children of alcoholics often learn how to manage chaotic situations and people: ‘They can learn to make themselves invaluable, or invisible — and when to be the former, and when to be the latter.’
It was father Pat who helped get Wiles her first job, working for his ex-New York Giants teammate turned politician, Jack Kemp – a beloved New York congressman at the time.
From there, Wiles went to work for Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign, before launching her career in Florida. There, Wiles made her name as a true political operator.
‘I’ve described her as a political savant — just otherworldly sort of political instincts,’ said ex-Jacksonville mayor John Delaney, for whom she worked. ‘Susie is a brilliant tactician, an enabler.’
In 2008, Wiles became the Duval County co-chair of Senator John McCain’s failed presidential campaign. Then, she helped launch businessman Rick Scott’s career – before joining a major government lobbying firm.
Those who know Wiles best say she’s an expert at shaping political narratives and not above leaking information to reporters when it suits her principal’s best interest. And, according to associates, there’s something else to know about Wiles: Don’t cross her.
Summerall (left), who died in 2013, wrote in his memoir about his drinking and the extra-marital affair that led to his divorce from Wiles’ mother and admitted: ‘My children grew up without me. I failed them as a father.’
‘She’s one of those people that has the old rule: F*** me? No. F*** you,’ veteran political operative Rick Wilson told Politico.
That’s a lesson that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis may have learned the hard way.
In 2012, Wiles took on DeSantis’ flagging congressional primary campaign and later helped him win his Florida gubernatorial race in 2018.
But after DeSantis made it to the governor’s mansion there was a spectacular falling out. The reasons have never been made public but there are suggestions that DeSantis and his wife Casey believed Wiles was given too much credit for his political ascendency.
So, they went their separate professional ways in 2019, even as Wiles was still struggling through a personal crisis – a divorce from her husband, Lanny Wiles in 2017 (They have two daughters together).
It was a move that DeSantis may now regret.
Fast-forward to the 2024 Republican primary – Wiles was on Team Trump.
The pair first met in 2015 and then re-connected in 2020 after Trump hit his own nadir following an election loss and the January 6th Capitol riots.
But now Trump was back and facing off against Wiles’ own former client and a crowded field of Republican White House hopefuls.
Suddenly, stories began surfacing in the media depicting DeSantis as socially awkward and even strangely bizarre.
When it came to DeSantis, Wiles ‘knows where the bodies are buried,’ Roger Stone, a master of the dark political arts himself, told the New York Times.
In March 2023, it was reported that during a private plane trip from Tallahassee to Washington D.C. in March of 2019, the Florida governor reportedly ate pudding with three fingers.
DeSantis has denied the incident ever took place. But the narrative stuck.
When it came to DeSantis, Wiles ‘knows where the bodies are buried,’ Roger Stone, a master of the dark political arts himself, told the New York Times.
Media commentators and critics began focusing on the way DeSantis appeared to grimace and grind his teeth while on the 2024 primary debate stage.
In April, he was compared to a bobblehead doll after energetically shaking his head back and forth while sparring with combative reporters during a trip to Tokyo, Japan.
And that October, the political world was gripped by the speculation that 5’11’ DeSantis was wearing lifts in his cowboy boots, earning him the moniker ‘Tiny D’.
It’s unclear how these stories came to appear in the media but some have their suspicions.
‘She knew,’ former Florida Republican Congressmember David Jolly told Politico, ‘exactly how to beat Ron DeSantis on behalf of her client.’
Now, Wiles will be deploying her skills in a place and at a time, where they may be needed most.
She and her boss have defeated all comers – but can they conquer the most critical challenge of all: governing?
