A lengthy Vanity Fair profile built on months of on-the-record conversations with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles reportedly offers a strikingly candid look at President Donald Trump’s second-term operation — one that critics portray as impulsive and centralized, but which Wiles describes as a disciplined effort to translate the president’s instincts into action.
Wiles, widely regarded as the most powerful figure in the West Wing besides Trump himself, told Vanity Fair that her role is not to restrain the president but to make his direction workable across the federal bureaucracy. “I’m not an enabler. I’m also not a bitch,” she said. “I guess time will tell whether I’ve been effective.”
Throughout the two-part portrait, Wiles did not shy away from blunt characterizations of top figures around Trump. She described Vice President JD Vance’s evolution from calling Trump “Hitler” to joining his ticket as “sort of political,” adding that Vance had been “a conspiracy theorist for a decade.” Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, a key architect of civil service cuts, was labeled “a right-wing absolute zealot.”
Wiles also spoke frankly about Trump ally Elon Musk, calling him a “complete solo actor,” an “odd duck,” and an “avowed ketamine” user. She admitted being “aghast” at Musk’s early DOGE-driven shutdown of USAID before programs were reviewed. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was described as “quirky Bobby,” though Wiles defended his reforms at Health and Human Services. Despite the pointed remarks, she praised the overall lineup she helped assemble as “a world-class Cabinet.”
The president himself was not spared candid analysis. Wiles said her perspective was shaped by growing up with her late father, Pat Summerall, whom she described as an alcoholic and absentee parent — an experience she said made her “a little bit of an expert in big personalities.” Her assessment of Trump was blunt: she said he “has an alcoholic’s personality” and “operates [with] a view that there’s nothing he can’t do.”
Wiles’s account of policy implementation describes a familiar pattern: initial internal disagreement followed by full alignment once Trump decides. She cited DOGE’s approach to USAID as her first major crisis, acknowledging clashes with Musk and conceding that Trump did not know the operational details. “The president doesn’t know and never will,” she said. “He doesn’t know the details of these smallish agencies.”
On Jan. 6 pardons, Wiles said she raised objections to blanket clemency, favoring leniency for nonviolent offenders. But she ultimately accepted Trump’s decision. “There have been a couple of times where I’ve been outvoted,” she said. “And if there’s a tie, he wins.”
She described similar internal conflict over tariffs, saying the rollout involved “huge disagreement” before staff were told to align with Trump’s thinking. “It’s been more painful than I expected,” she said.
Wiles also acknowledged process failures on immigration, urging “double-checks” when questions arise, while admitting she could not explain certain high-profile cases raised by Vanity Fair.
Taken together, the profile depicts a second term driven by presidential instinct and enforced by loyalists — with Wiles positioning herself not as a check on Trump, but as the operator tasked with making his vision reality while absorbing the consequences.
UPDATE: Wiles has since responded to the article in a post on X:
The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history.
Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the…
— Susie Wiles (@SusieWiles) December 16, 2025
[READ MORE: Pelosi Says No Grounds Yet to Impeach Trump Again, Tempering Democratic Calls for Another Showdown]
