After briefly managing Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s 2012 presidential campaign, she managed Trump’s 2016 campaign in Florida, when his victory in the state helped him win the election White House. She has a history with Ron DeSantis.
Veteran Florida political strategist Susie Wiles has been selected as President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming White House chief of staff, transitioning from a behind-the-scenes role as campaign co-chair to the president’s most High profile positions and counsel of close advisors.
She has been involved in politics for many years. But who is Wiles, who will be the first woman to hold the important role of White House chief of staff?
She has decades of experience, much of it in Florida. In the 1970s, she worked in the Washington office of New York Rep. Jack Kemp. He later worked as a dispatcher for Ronald Reagan’s campaign and at the White House. Wiles then traveled to Florida, where she advised two Jacksonville mayors and worked for Rep. Tilly Fowler. Florida politics has since exploded into a statewide campaign, with Wiles credited with helping businessman Rick Scott win the governorship.
After briefly managing Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s 2012 presidential campaign, she managed Trump’s 2016 campaign in Florida, when his victory in the state helped him win the election White House. She has a history with Ron DeSantis.
Two years later, Wiles helped elect Ron DeSantis as governor of Florida. But a rift developed between the two, ultimately leading DeSantis to urge the Trump 2020 campaign to cut ties with the strategist when she again ran the then-president’s state campaign.
Wiles ultimately went on to lead Trump’s primary campaign against DeSantis, defeating the Florida governor. Trump campaign aides and their outside allies have gleefully mocked DeSantis throughout the campaign — mocking his laugh, the way he eats and accusing him of wearing boosters in his boots — as well as exploiting the suspicions of many Insider knowledge from Wiles and others on the Trump campaign.
As of the time of her announcement, Wiles had only posted on X three times this year. Wiles made a rare social media appearance shortly before DeSantis dropped out of the presidential race in January. She responded to information that DeSantis had cleared his campaign website of the upcoming event with a short but clear message: “Bye, bye.” Mostly, she shied away from the spotlight.
At the beginning of Trump’s third campaign, Wiles was one of the few senior officials to survive the entire Trump campaign and formed a more professional team for his third bid to the White House. As a member of the team – even in the previous campaign anyway, the president often breached these guardrails.
She has largely shunned the spotlight, even refusing to take the microphone to speak as Trump celebrated his victory early Wednesday morning. But she made it clear she was not averse to taking on tasks reserved for volunteers. When Trump appeared in Iowa last July, the former president posed for photos with a long list of voters. Wiles grabbed a clipboard and began approaching people waiting to fill out cards, pledging to caucus for Trump. Meeting. Put it in the trash can.
Another of her three posts on X this year came in the final days of the campaign after billionaire Mark Cuban commented there were no “strong, smart women” in Trump’s orbit Fight back. After Wiles was selected as White House chief of staff, Trump supporter Florida Senator Marco Rubio teased on X that the president-elect had chosen a “strong, smart woman” as his chief of staff.
She Can Control Some of Trump’s Worst Impulses Wiles can help control Trump’s worst impulses — not by berating him or lecturing him, but by earning his respect and showing him that when he follows her advice At the time, he was in a better position than to defy her advice. Late in the campaign, when Trump was giving a widely panned speech in Pennsylvania in which he strayed from his talking points and said he didn’t mind the press being shot, Wiles stepped out and stared at him silently. Trump mentioned Wiles frequently on the campaign trail, publicly praising her leadership and saying he was often told it was his “best campaign.”
“She’s incredible,” he said at a rally in Milwaukee earlier this month, noting that Wiles is the daughter of football player and sportscaster Pat Summerall. Center, Trump Four chiefs of staff have been replaced, including one who serves as a confidant to the president, helping execute the agenda and balancing competing political and policy priorities. They also tend to serve as gatekeepers, helping determine who the president spends his time on. And who to talk to — an approach that rankled Trump inside the White House.
Trump has repeatedly said he believes the biggest mistake of his first term was hiring the wrong people. He said he was new to Washington at the time and knew nothing about it.
But now, Trump said, he knows “the best people” and those to avoid at work.
(Except for the title, this report has not been edited by DNA staff and is published by AP/PTI)
