Buckle up. In a jaw-dropping series of Vanity Fair interviews, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles just tore the lid off Trump’s second term—and she didn’t spare anyone.
First, the bombshell on Trump himself: Wiles said he “has an alcoholic’s personality.” Her expertise? Growing up with her own alcoholic father, Wiles says, gave her a playbook for handling “big personalities.” “Some clinical psychologist that knows one million times more than I do will dispute what I’m going to say. But high-functioning alcoholics or alcoholics in general, their personalities are exaggerated when they drink. And so I’m a little bit of an expert in big personalities,” she told Vanity Fair.
Then there’s Vice President JD Vance. Once a staunch Never Trumper, now Trump’s MAGA heir? Wiles called the transformation “sort of political,” adding, without hesitation, that he’s been “a conspiracy theorist for a decade.” Translation: his MAGA makeover may be strategic, but his paranoia runs deep.
Wiles didn’t stop there. She described Russell Vought, head of the Office of Management and Budget, as “a right-wing absolute zealot,” and even had a hilarious, if pointed, take on Elon Musk’s more extreme posts: “I think that’s when he’s microdosing.”
Inside the Oval, Wiles wields power like few chiefs of staff ever have. On November 4, 2025, Election Day, she stood up mid-meeting on ending the filibuster and facing Nicolás Maduro, telling Trump, “It’s an emergency. It doesn’t involve you.” Then she walked out, leaving the president guessing—a masterclass in subtle power play.
And make no mistake: Wiles isn’t trying to restrain Trump—she’s here to unleash him. Vance said, “Susie just takes the diametrically opposite viewpoint…that her job is to actually facilitate [Trump’s] vision and to make his vision come to life.” Rubio agreed: “I don’t think there’s anybody in the world right now that could do the job that she’s doing.”
Her rise wasn’t without drama. Wiles ran Florida for Trump in 2020, but previously worked for Ron DeSantis—who later publicly denounced her and bad-mouthed her privately. Wiles reflected, “I think he thought I was getting too much attention, which is ironic. I don’t ever seek attention.”
The Vanity Fair portrait of Wiles also details the chaotic first year of Trump’s second term: unilateral war on drug cartels, pardons for January 6 rioters, tariffs on a whim, and pressure on NATO allies—all while navigating the most unpredictable president in modern memory. One former Republican chief summed it up: “So many decisions of great consequence are being made on the whim of the president. And as far as I can tell, the only force that can direct or channel that whim is Susie.”
In short: Wiles is a woman running the show for a man who seems untethered from norms, with a vice president who’s spent a decade embracing conspiracy theories. Trump’s second term isn’t just a political story—it’s a full-blown drama of power, paranoia, and personalities.
