Oops -- Clarifying What We Already Know

"This 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 story."

"I assume, after reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team." 

"You will see a different Donald Trump when he gets there [at his inauguration second time around]."

"I’ve not seen him throw anything, I’ve not seen him scream. I didn’t see that really horrible behavior that people talk about and that I actually experienced years ago." 

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles

 

"[Trump has] an alcoholic's personality."

"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."

"[Trump] has a view that there's nothing he can't do."

"Nothing, zero, nothing."

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles

Photographer Christopher Anderson. Vanity Fair

 

"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 most White Houses, the chief of staff is first among a bunch of equals. She may be first with no equals."

Former Republican Chief 

 

"There is this idea that people have that I think was very common in the first administration, that their objective was to control the president or influence the president, or even manipulate the president because they had to in order to serve the national interest. "

"Susie just takes the diametrically opposite viewpoint, which is that she’s a facilitator, that the American people have elected Donald Trump."

"And her job is to actually facilitate his vision and to make his vision come to life."

JD Vance, U.S. Vice-President 

 

"I was initially aghast. Because I think anybody that pays attention to government and has ever paid attention to USAID believed, as I did, that they do very good work."

"But Musk forged ahead—all throttle, no brake. Elon’s attitude is you have to get it done fast. If you’re an incrementalist, you just won’t get your rocket to the moon."

"And so with that attitude, you’re going to break some china. But no rational person could think the USAID process was a good one. Nobody."

Susie Wiles  

Will heads roll? Actually, one head in very particular. It's anyone's guess. Embarrassing Donald J. Trump doesn't ordinarily get a free pass. On the other hand, Mr. Trump revels in notice, and certainly the frank revelations that his chief of staff uttered in interviews with Vanity Fair (was it her own personal vanity that persuaded her muse that this extraordinary woman be allowed to emote and quote?) have resulted in a firestorm of shocked bemusement and speculation.

 

Her observations bred of an intelligent, perceptive mind that is capable of parsing personalities and peeking behind the public persona would be of interest to anyone. And in this particular instance, given the high public performance of those her sharp mind and willing tongue described in less than admirable notes, was certainly of interest to everyone. Washington must be ablaze on tenterhooks of expectation. These are, in many circumstances, unforgivable revelations, of the Achilles' heels of those in the public spotlight day in, day out.

 

Anyone reading them would nod in recognition, since many of this woman's observations document traits recognized by anyone paying attention. The two-part profile of an extended interview profile spoke as much about the integrity and intelligence of the woman in question as it did the human failings of her subjects, people in positions of great influence and greater power within the United States of America, whose decision-making affects the entire globe. And anyone reading her comments would not come away assured that the world, much less the U.S. is in good hands.

 

Unless, of course by some unforeseen, fortuitous happenstance, Susie Wiles herself assumes the presidency. 

 

Aha, teetotalling Trump with "an alcoholic's personality", Vice-President JD Vance a calculating "conspiracy theorist" and "quirky Bobby" aptly describing the dangers unleashed in Robert Kennedy assigned as Health Secretary. Her colleague Pam Bondi came in for a rebuke over her handling of the release of the Epstein files. Errors of some magnitude in the mass deportation program. Mr. Trump's punitive tariff program on friend and foe alike, with its unwieldy world economy-affecting consequences.

 

And a closer perspective on the political blood-letting inspired by her president's campaign of retribution targeting his political adversaries gone well out of control. These are not the actions of an emotionally mature, balanced mind. They are, however, a reflection of an uncontrolled egocentric on the cusp of committing international crimes in the president's vendetta against another man who shares some of his personal traits who refuses to surrender his hold on power in Venezuela.

 

While not denying anything she pronounced upon, to her credit, she felt the interview as published was deliberately canted to produce an impression she never meant to be perceived, in demeaning the government she serves with her own integrity intact. In her mind and in her opinion, she has balanced the good and the bad about the man she serves while serving her country. 

 

Wiles from right, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth listen as Trump meets with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the Cabinet Room on Oct. 20. (Evan Vucci/The Associated Press)

 

"President Trump has no greater or more loyal advisor than Susie."

The entire Administration is grateful for her steady leadership and [is] united fully behind her."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt