Wednesday morning (Tuesday evening in the United States), Susie Wiles exploded on the stage of Donald Trump's victory speech, just elected president of his country. Among the many women with the physique of top models – a stereotype often put forward by the billionaire – this 67-year-old grandmother who likes to be described as a “lady” wanted to remain in the shadows of the scene. In his enthusiasm, Donald Trump nevertheless led him to the front of the platform, thanking the work of “this strong and intelligent woman”.
And Susie Wiles is not ready to leave the spotlight: Thursday, the president-elect, who will take office at the beginning of January, announced that he wanted to appoint her chief of staff at the White House. It will be the first time that a woman has held such a position, the most strategic and important in the American executive branch after that of president.
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A career making and unmaking campaigns
“Susie Wiles just helped me win one of the greatest political victories in American history,” greeted the Republican champion in a press release. Architect of Donald Trump's campaign, the sixty-year-old indeed had a decisive role, influencing the candidate on his campaign themes, his ultra-conservative speech and his way of opposing Kamala Harris.
But Susie Wiles is not a “Trumpist.” Coming from a “very traditional” background, as she herself explains, she entered politics very early, at age 22, when she worked as a campaign aide to Republican Representative Jack Kemp (the equivalent of a deputy in France).
The most powerful Republican you don't know
Very quickly, her ability to organize propelled her to the heart of the leadership of the Republican Party. Barely 23 years old, she was responsible in 1980 for establishing the campaign schedule for Ronald Reagan, who won. She then spent a decade in the mysteries of power, as close as possible to the White House.
For three decades, she specialized in managing the campaigns of several Republican candidates in Florida, where she settled with her family. For example, she helped to elect Rick Scott, a very conservative businessman and little connected to the political world, as governor of this state in 2010.
With Trump, a lasting relationship of trust
Susie Wiles acquires a nickname that sums her up well: the “Ice Lady”. If, for Donald Trump, it is an affectionate nickname, his opponents point out the calculating coldness coupled with very conservative motivations of a woman as influential in Florida as in Washington.
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In 2016, she managed Donald Trump's campaign in the only state of Florida, but, unofficially, the American billionaire was already asking her for some advice in his fight with Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
Donald Trump, then president, asked him in 2018 to put himself at the service of Ron DeSantis, then candidate for governor of Florida. This election was considered strategic at the time, with the Democrats on the verge of creating a surprise. Susie Wiles succeeded in getting Ron DeSantis elected but at the cost of significant tensions, fundamentally, with the elected candidate.
In 2021, she finds Donald Trump and, this time, the billionaire defeated a few months earlier by Joe Biden in the presidential election, includes her in his close guard. Susie Wiles becomes CEO of Save America PAC, the organization that will finance its champion's entire campaign until his re-election.
The position of chief of staff, an ejection seat
When Donald Trump officially entered the race, he naturally named her “senior political advisor”. With Chris LaCivita, another pillar of the Trump system, Susie Wiles thus became the great architect of the most unexpected comeback in American political history.
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Conservative, anti-abortion, ultra-liberal and defender of highly controlled immigration, Susie Wiles now has the opportunity to apply her policy. The newspaper “The Hill”, specializing in American parliamentary politics, defined her “as the most powerful Republican you don’t know”.
But she will also settle in the most beautiful ejection seat in Washington: under Donald Trump's first term, no less than four chiefs of staff marched. One of them, former General John Kelly, left with a bang and, in October, called the president-elect a “fascist.”
