Fear a Possible Smooth-Running Trump White House: Wiles Will

With all that has happened in the last eight years, it is nearly impossible to recall the first days of the Trump administration in 2017, it was hall of fame-level mess – even for Trump fans. This was the point in time when a young kid named Stephen Miller, with virtually no experience in government, takes to the White House printer to punt out an executive order that did nothing less than stop people from all over the world from entering the United States based solely on that country’s major religion (Saudi Arabia, of course – excluded, the nation whose citizens pulled off 9-11, information on which still remains classified all these years later – they were fine.. for some reason.) Then President Donald Trump wanted to retract Russian sanctions despite the Russian commitment to the Crimean Peninsula – the reason for the original sanctions, requiring Congress to act immediately to hold those sanctions in place with a 97-2 Senate vote… It was a mess. And that helped keep a lot of damage from being done. Yes, well – that was then but don’t expect a second stumble out of the gate because this time Trump has put a hall of fame professional in place to run the White House. That should strike fear in your hearts.

Whatever else one might say about Trump staffers, Susie Wiles doesn’t fit the mold. The very fact that none of us could pick her out of a lineup is a testament to her effectiveness – being the head of his campaign and all. People in charge of campaigns or – the White House as Chief of Staff, shouldn’t be recognizable. Their most valuable asset is the power to run things below the surface, beyond reporters, beyond the limelight, beyond unceasing staffers’ aspirations, all of which require the steady hand of someone who is confidently ready to skewer those seeking to personally benefit at the cost of their mission. Again, Wiles is good at what she does – which is virtually everything. One best get used to the idea of a smoothly running, efficient Trump White House from Day One. As Axios reports:

She aims for the West Wing to be a no-drama zone for staff. If that works, it won’t be the chaotic den of self-sabotaging that stymied the early days of President-elect Trump’s first term.”I don’t welcome people who want to work solo or be a star…

And that goes against every neurological instinct associated with hacks and wonks in politics at that level – or any level – everyone wanting to be the star, the one on the rise, the one they can’t live without, the one reporters love, etc. Obviously, any outside observer knows that those fundamental priorities come at the expense of others, keeping the endeavor slogged down in an intramural war with itself. Anyone looking for proof can simply point to his campaign and the end results. She did that.

My team and I will not tolerate backbiting, second-guessing inappropriately, or drama. These are counterproductive to the mission.”

She never tells others what she tells Trump. If she disagrees with him, it’s not done in front of anyone — and it doesn’t leak. She avoids the spotlight. To survive in the MAGA-verse, you have to always remember that Trump is the star around which others revolve.

Yes, the campaign most certainly did have some leaks but so do glaciers. No one knows what might have been without Wiles at the helm, we only know that the campaign worked all too effectively and if that’s the pattern, look out.

Trump's 'ice maiden' Susie Wiles reveals what behavior will NOT be tolerated in the White House https://t.co/x5P9YXIBY0 pic.twitter.com/KvPnHYwIys

— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) January 6, 2025

We know that there are big plans for that Day One – there always are with any incoming president, but politics has rarely been what it has been of late in which massive policy changes, even the existence of major departments in the executive branch, up for immediate reversals or evisceration and the hate, the white hot hate. The very fact that I can’t recall ever writing about Wiles or even a quote demonstrates that this woman knows exactly how to go about getting stuff done. She is in charge of “moving day” – which is every day at this level. She likely has already installed an inchoate White House that blasts ahead, singularly focused.

Be careful about interpreting news springing forth from the fortress that may lead to false conclusions. The fact that there may be five senior staffers fired in the first month may look like the definition of chaos when it may be more a sign of a sense of mission overriding even the careers of the most experienced, seemingly most critical, people. It could easily be much more as indicative of an operation in which someone really does know what the people below her are both doing and saying and really isn’t afraid to burn them off as causing too much undergrowth. Such moves would also quickly serve as a serious warning to others below her; Do it and you’ll be out writing your book faster than you could possibly imagine.

Yes, Trump can always get in the way or be his own worst enemy, to be sure – and he will, whether it is to serve an inner-need to lash out at someone or try to soothe feelings of that guy that just got fried inside Wiles office – only to then walk away believing he or she is protected from above. He absolutely will get in the way at times – that, too, is almost inherent to the job. But he also wants to be the sole focus and this is how he gets there. He’s been there before, knows the trouble spots, and probably trusts the people around him more. It’s far more likely that he’ll listen.

And Wiles has something to counter if there are problems when she meets with him alone. Nothing more than a well-timed “Please trust me. I ran the campaign in a manner that limited drama and had shocking success – We need it here, too.” At that point Trump can likely look around, realizing that most of the news coming from the administration comes from him and isn’t being cut down by quotes in the Post about who is destroying who with what result in the background. He trusts her and the proof is that she’s there at all.

Obviously this column might not age well – that would be the hope, anyway. But get used to the idea of a White House not bogged down by ever-recurring “Infrastructure Weeks” and continued self-sabotage. If anyone can coral the herd below it would have to be someone like Wiles. It is even scarier knowing that Trump, too, knows that he needs someone like her, and reached beyond the more prominent flame-throwers to install someone with that rare quality – the one that doesn’t want to be the star but rather the one the star counts on.

It is more than a little disconcerting. One of his very first appointments was one of the most important and most devastating. She is one of the rarest birds in the MAGA aviary, the one who merely wants stuff done and won’t tolerate anyone who doesn’t follow her example.

Look out.

God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and on X @JasonMiciak and now on Bluesky. 

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