Suzie Wiles, 67, arrives discreetly and refuses to speak into the microphone. Thursday, November 7, the day after this video of Donald Trump’s victory speech, the discreet collaborator of the new American president found herself in the spotlight of the whole world: she was named chief of staff at the White House, a position that it will officially take place on January 20 during the inauguration of Donald Trump.
Where does she come from?
Susan Summerall Wiles, her real name, is the daughter of Pat Summerall Wiles, American football player turned sports commentator. She entered politics in 1980 as campaign planner for Ronald Reagan. His career continues with John Delaney and John Peyton, Republican mayors of Jacksonville, Florida, but also Jon Huntsman, governor of Utah in the 2012 presidential race.
Her collaboration with Donald Trump began in 2016: she directed the operations of the Republican candidate’s campaign in Florida, without following him to the White House. But Susie Wiles supported, in 2018, Ron deSantis, a former close friend of Donald Trump, and helped him to be elected governor of Florida. The two fell out in 2019. In an article in The Atlantic dated July 10, 2024, Susie Wiles calls this collaboration with de Santis “the biggest mistake of her career”.
In March 2021, she got closer to Donald Trump again by becoming CEO of Save America PAC, a political action committee founded and controlled by the billionaire. It is naturally she who is chosen in 2023 to lead Trump’s presidential campaign, allowing him to regain power after 4 years away from the White House.
Why is she becoming chief of staff?
Her appointment as chief of staff, announced on November 7, was not surprising: Susie Wiles was the favorite. In a profile published on Politico in April 2024, journalist Michael Kruse explains that she is “one of the reasons why the current Trump campaign is more professional than his previous ones. And that’s one of the main reasons Trump is likely to win re-election — even after his 2020 defeat, the 2021 insurrection, his party’s 2022 midterm defeats, the criminal indictments of 2023 and the trial(s) of 2024.”
The journalist adds: “Over the past few months, I have spoken with more than 100 people about Wiles, people who have worked with her, around her, for her and against her, and there is a surprisingly bipartisan consensus : she is good at what she does. » This portrait describes her as “a political scholar”, “a brilliant tactician, a facilitator, who helps her boss define and achieve his priorities”.
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