President-elect Donald Trump has chosen his campaign manager, Susie Wiles, to be his chief of staff at the White House, and she will be the first woman to hold this position, several media reports.
Support My Gay Prides journalism. Find out how you can contribute here.
Who is Susie Wiles?
Wiles is a veteran but low-key Republican political operative. She has worked in Republican politics since the 1970s and was a programmer for Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign in 1980, then held a position in the Reagan White House. A New Jersey native, she is a longtime resident of Florida, where she ran state operations for Trump in 2016 and Ron DeSantis’ gubernatorial campaign in 2018. But she ultimately fell out with DeSantis and his team, and she is one of the reasons Trump and not DeSantis became the 2024 Republican presidential nominee,Policynoted earlier this year.
She avoided taking a public role but was powerful behind the scenes. “Susie likes to stay in the background, let me tell you,” Trump said in his victory speech on election night. “The Ice Maiden. We call her the Ice Maiden.
She was named CEO of Trump’s Save America PAC in 2021 and became a leader in his presidential campaign as soon as he announced he would run in 2024.
In naming Wiles chief of staff, Trump released a statement saying that she is “tough, smart, innovative and universally admired and respected” and that it will be “a well-deserved honor to have Susie as the first-ever female chief of staff . in the history of the United States.
Political observers will wonder how long she will stay. Trump has had four chiefs of staff in his first term: Reince Priebus, Mick Mulvaney, General John Kelly (who turned on Trump and called him a fascist), and Mark Meadows.
Where does she stand on LGBTQ+ rights, social issues and what is her style?
“She would be what I would call left-leaning on LGBT+ issues,” said former Jacksonville, Florida, mayor John Delaney. The Independent. Wiles ran a successful mayoral campaign in 1995 and became his chief of staff after his election. “And I can’t believe that she would necessarily naturally agree with Donald Trump on immigration, but that’s more speculation,” Delaney added. However, she was unable to stop Trump from demonizing transgender people and immigrants during the campaign.
“Delaney says politics is about what people may overlook in a candidate and what they can’t neglect in another, » The Independent reports. “In this sense, she looks a lot like voters who might have held their noses at the ballot box; “dyed in the wool” Republicans who may not have liked their candidate, but who nevertheless crossed the line.”
Peter Schorsch, editor de Florida Politics, it The Independent that Wiles has a “let Trump be Trump” philosophy. “He says some things to the MAGA crowd, but he also offers incredible tax policy to the billionaire crowd, and they like it,” Schorsch said. “I don’t want to say she made a deal with the devil, but she knows what Trump is talking about. » However, she led a “disciplined field game” during the campaign, he said.
CNN notes: “At times, she also had to confront Trump about keeping certain people at arm’s length — however, her failure to stop far-right provocateur Laura Loomer from joining the former president at a debate and a 9/11 memorial service created a significant effect. blowback for his boss.
But she plans to keep fringe elements out of the White House, an anonymous source told CNN. “The clown car cannot enter the White House at will,” the source said. “And he agrees with her. »
What else do we know about Wiles’ personal life?
Wiles has guarded his personal information closely, but some facts are known. She is one of three daughters of the late professional footballer and broadcaster Pat Summerall. His alcoholism damaged his relationship with his daughters, but the family eventually reconciled, according to The Independent. She was married to Lanny Wiles, another Republican political activist, for many years, but they divorced in 2017. They have two daughters, Katie and Caroline. And she doesn’t appear to have any connection to anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-Semitic minister Rick Wiles, although he has a wife named Susan.
