Susie Wiles: Architect Of Trump’s Win Becomes First Woman Tapped As Chief Of Staff

Susie Wiles, the no-drama adult in the room who steered Donald Trump’s 2024 revival, quietly achieved a comeback of her own in becoming the first woman tapped to become White House chief of staff.

The Florida Republican operative, who Trump has called “the ice baby” and said “likes to stay in the background,” was the first to get a prized post in the new administration as hordes of party loyalists jockey for cabinet positions in Washington.

The move was a nod to the role the veteran politico held among bouts of infighting — helping to bring stability, order, and financial discipline to a campaign whose 2016 and 2020 iterations were far more volatile.

Susie Wiles, co-chair of the Trump 2024 campaign, left, and former US President Donald Trump during an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, US, on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024.

Most critically, it was a clear anointment by the boss, granting credit for the relatively smooth operation that turned an expected dead-tie election into a solid Trump victory.

“Susie Wiles was truly the only choice,” said Trump campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita. “She is a great manager, a great leader with a dust of humility, attention to detail and an unwavering loyalty. You couldn’t find anyone better than Susie Wiles.”

As the chief of staff, she’s expected to help oversee the transition, Trump’s selection of top cabinet officials in the coming weeks and his strategy for attacking his first 100 days in office with a Republican Senate and likely party control of the House. 

Less ideological than some of Trump’s other advisers and allies, she’s likely to remain a neutral arbiter in various policy discussions, and she has the confidence of his top campaign aides, donors and — most importantly — members of his family.

“Susie is unflappable. She is very steady and focused and quietly gets done what needs to be done,” said John McLaughlin, a close Trump adviser who has conducted polling for Trump since 2011. “She has a unique relationship with the president in that he trusts her. She keeps him focused on what is in his best interests.”

Wiles, the 67-year-old daughter of famed NFL broadcaster Pat Summerall — heredity that Trump has praised as “good genetics” — has been in politics since 1980 when she worked on Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign. That lineage and career has given her credibility with Trump, who trusts her as a sounding board and will listen to her warnings when his musings might go too far.

Previously an aide to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Wiles’s dense political network in the state helped propel Trump to a 13-point trouncing of Vice President Kamala Harris for its 30 electoral votes — an even greater margin than his two previous runs for president.

Their strategy in the state - which included appealing to Blacks and Latinos to essentially build a new coalition of supporters for the Republican Party - was replicated nationally via a tight-knit group of Florida operatives, helping to propel Trump’s victory. Republicans expect Wiles to bring some of those close aides with her to the White House.

Wiles was not new to Trump world when she took over, having run his Florida operation in previous election cycles as well as his main super PAC. Wiles was among the first Florida political insiders to embrace Trump in 2016, supporting him over Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush and helping turn the state red again. 

In 2010, Wiles helped guide for-profit healthcare CEO Rick Scott into the state’s governor. She did the same in 2018 for DeSantis, at the time a backbench congressman who needed help turning around his losing campaign. But DeSantis later fired her after he and his wife blamed her for leaking a memo to the press, and then tried to blackball her from work all over Florida. 

DeSantis reportedly discouraged Trump from hiring her, but the then-president eventually brought her aboard to help his 2020 effort. That left Wiles well positioned when Trump, exiled to Florida after his defeat to President Joe Biden, began plotting his comeback. 

Wiles joined what, in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic and Jan. 6, 2021 riot, seemed like an underdog effort, pledging to keep a tight budget — which Trump appreciated — while inoculating the campaign from the fringe elements of the fiery MAGA movement. She also got her revenge on DeSantis, helping Trump craft a strategy to eliminate him as a main Republican rival for the nomination.

“I’ve followed Susie into war and also been in the trenches on the opposite side of Susie in primary battles — I much prefer to be on her side,” said Slater Bayliss, a lobbyist in Tallahassee and co-founder of Advocacy Partners, a Florida-focused lobbying firm. “As a dad of daughters, I’m thrilled she broke the glass ceiling in perhaps the most good ole’ boys’ positions in politics.”

At the same time, “anyone who’s worked with her knows that Susie is no-drama,” said Brian Ballard, a Florida lobbyist who gained national prominence during Trump’s first term and who hired Wiles when she worked as a lobbyist. “I think he has found, finally, a chief of staff that fits all the requirements that he’s looking for — smart, savvy, understated and not a self-promoter.”

Toward the end of the campaign, she fended off senior adviser Corey Lewandowski’s efforts to take over the campaign operations and spending as well as the efforts of different factions of Trump world to undermine her and LaCivita.

It’s a low-key, get-it-done style that those around her expect she’ll bring to the West Wing in January.

“She never dances on anyone’s grave. She’s the most disciplined person in politics,” said Bayliss. “Politically she’s a ninja, organizationally she’s a general and in communications she’s a steel trap.”