White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has sparked major political buzz after calling President Donald Trump a “disrupter” and revealing that this is exactly what drew her to him. Wiles praised Trump’s unconventional leadership style, saying his willingness to challenge the political establishment is what makes him unique. Her comments come amid growing debates over Trump’s influence on American politics, the Republican Party, and the future of the White House.
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00:00member of Congress. And I've kind of been in that pathway ever since. And in recent years,
00:06the biggest risk I took was, I think in 2016, I had a couple of Floridians in the presidential
00:13race who I really adored, one of whom is the Secretary of State now. And yet I wanted a
00:18disruptor. And I looked around at the disruptors in the field and said, I think Donald Trump's
00:24the one. There was, we were the 17th string. We were the last people chosen, the last, you
00:32know, the last people with experience. And yet here we are. So that was a big risk that
00:38certainly changed everything for me and made life completely different and better than I
00:44ever could have imagined.
00:45What did you see that made you think that a disruptor was what was needed?
00:52I'm a lifelong Republican. I've always been sort of a traditional Republican. And it
00:56just wasn't working in my mind. So I thought we've got to do it differently. But it has
01:02to be a Republican. There was a huge field for those of you that remember that race. It
01:07was quite contentious. But literally, I looked around and said, which one do I think can win
01:13and is legitimately a disruptor? And I think we all agree that President Trump was that person.
01:19I think they need you in the Senate. We here at Independent Women are huge Susie Wiles fans.
01:26And we're so grateful that you've accepted this honor. Part of the reason that we think
01:31you're so amazing is that it's never about you. It's all about getting things done and
01:37being impactful and keeping things quiet while layers of smart strategy get a chance to unfold.
01:44There's tremendous discipline and focus that's required for that. And it's so rare. I mean,
01:51we're in Washington where the oxygen of the place is self-aggrandizement. Why is it that
01:58you don't need the external validation that so many need, that you see in politics? And
02:04do you think that perhaps being a woman helps in that regard?
02:08Well, first of all, thanks to all that took the time to be here. I'm very honored. I looked
02:14at the list of who'd been honored before me and thought, oh boy, I don't deserve this rarefied
02:18air. And then I got here and saw a tactical team with the Secretary of War. So we should
02:22all feel very safe.
02:29It's not about me. I mean, that's why it's easy to have it not about me. I'm not on the
02:35ballot. I just have a team. And the team is incredible. Many of them have been with me
02:41and with President Trump for years. And so it is easy to not be personal about it because
02:48it just doesn't require that. And yes, it probably is easier because I'm a woman. But
02:56honestly, just look at the facts. If you make it about you, you're taking away from what the
03:02cause is really about. So I don't find it hard.
03:05Well, we appreciate it. And I believe that is truly the smart strategy. When you look back
03:11at your early career, did you ever imagine that you might end up in this kind of a role,
03:16shaping the future of our country? Or did that path reveal itself over time? Or did you only
03:22find out like yesterday, in 2024?
03:26I didn't. I was going to be an English teacher. And just happenstance led me to an early political
03:33job. And then I've been in and out of the field for some years. But this is the path God
03:39chose for me. And I'm here. And I'm doing the best I can every day. And that's what my recommendation
03:44is to everybody. Show up. Do your best. Work hard. Have a great team around you. And success
03:51will follow.
03:53Was there a defining moment that led you to think that this might be where you wanted
03:58to be and what you wanted to be doing?
04:00You mean White House Chief of Staff?
04:02Or that and the whole political space?
04:05No. I worked as an intern on the Hill, a paid intern when I was young, because I could make
04:10more money there than waiting tables. I mean, honestly.
04:13And what about for White House Chief of Staff? When did that call to you?
04:17I thought about it sort of the last week of the campaign, whether I would want to stay
04:22in Washington, whether I would go back to Florida. And didn't really think deeply about
04:28it. And then a couple of days after the campaign was over, the President called me in and said,
04:32I hear you don't want to be my Chief of Staff. I said, well, where'd you hear that? So here
04:38I am.
04:41Was there a risk you took that, in hindsight, really shaped the trajectory of your career?
04:50Early on, I took a number of years off work at all in certainly this business. And when
04:58I went back to work after my children went to school, my first job was working for a good
05:05friend of mine, because she was a good friend of mine, but she was also a member of Congress.
05:09And I've kind of been in that pathway ever since. And in recent years, the biggest risk
05:15I took was, I think in 2016, I had a couple of Floridians in the presidential race who I
05:22really adored, one of whom is the Secretary of State now. And yet I wanted a disruptor.
05:28And I looked around at the disruptors in the field and said, I think Donald Trump's the
05:33one. We were the 17th string. We were the last people chosen, the last people with experience.
05:42And yet, here we are. So that was a big risk that certainly changed everything for me and
05:49made life completely different and better than I ever could have imagined.
05:54What did you see that made you think that a disruptor was what was needed?
06:00I'm a lifelong Republican. I've always been sort of a traditional Republican. And it just
06:04wasn't working in my mind. So I thought we've got to do it differently, but it has to be a
06:11Republican. There was a huge field for those of you that remember that race. It was quite
06:15contentious. But literally, I looked around and said, which one do I think can win and is
06:22legitimately a disruptor. And I think we all agree that President Trump was that person.
06:28I think they need you in the Senate. So you've been in this game a long time. And part of
06:35that
06:35world is navigating relationships with an often hostile media. The President and his team
06:41regularly are attacked by the media. And you came in yourself for a pretty nasty attack last year. So as
06:50you've
06:51found yourself targeted, has that experience given you a different understanding of how to navigate
06:59and you yourself, but also conservatives generally, should navigate those relationships?
07:05It was really back in my career, back in the day, I did press work. That was my job. I
07:11was a press secretary
07:12and a communications director. And at the local and state level, I think you have good relationships most
07:18often with the press that cover you. So I was a little bit surprised at the intensity of the vitriol,
07:26not only for me, but for many members of the cabinet, even our staff. So I think you have to
07:33grow thick skin,
07:34which is not easy. And I can't say I've succeeded there. I resist the temptation to correct everything
07:40that's wrong, because you'd spend all your day and night doing that. And I stay off Twitter,
07:47because that makes me crazy when I see all that criticism. But honestly, you just have to get up every
07:53day
07:54and do your job again and not let the critics get to you. Easier said than done, but that is
08:00my way of operating.
08:03So are you still, one assumes, back-channeling with media, or are you now much more careful
08:09about who you talk to?
08:11Much more careful. And if I do it, I get in trouble at the White House.
08:15Because I do it at one o'clock in the morning and, you know. So I don't. I have a
08:20couple of friends
08:21in the reporter ranks, but we keep it to friendship. I leave it to the others.
08:26Okay. So we should assume that if there is a quiet conversation with the media,
08:30it's something that the President wants put out there.
08:33Yeah. Just to, J.D. Vance told a story about sort of market testing an idea deliberately that way.
08:39Have there been many of those?
08:40Not too many. Not for me. Okay.
08:41I know they go on, though.
08:43So this is a more, you know, I've thought about what it must be like to work in that White
08:49House.
08:50Maybe you're one of those lucky people who only needs four to five hours of sleep a night.
08:55But if not, or even if you do, how do you manage working for somebody who never sleeps
09:02and in a White House that operates on Trump time?
09:05How do all the normal mortals who need to function manage that?
09:10I am not one of those people that doesn't need sleep. I actually do very much.
09:15But in the campaign, when I go to sleep early, and Dan Scavino, who I'm sure many of you know,
09:22is a night owl. So we divide it. And I get the early calls and Dan gets the late calls.
09:27And that's the way we've sort of navigated over a couple of years, making sure we all get enough sleep,
09:32even if the President doesn't.
09:34Okay.
09:36Is there a misperception you often wish that people understood better about the White House and how it functions and
09:44the President?
09:45Oh, yes. Yes. We work hard. Many people make sacrifices. They have young families.
09:54They have marriages that they're trying to keep intact. And there's just not the ability to prioritize that.
10:02So when people come to work at the White House, they're giving up a lot.
10:06So when we hear how, you know, what rarefied air we live in, that's true.
10:12But it doesn't come without a price. And we're honored to pay it.
10:16But I wish people understood more what seven days and 14 days and 21 days of 18-hour workdays do
10:26to you.
10:27It takes a bit away. And so we're not spoiled. We work in a beautiful, beautiful place for a wonderful
10:35person.
10:35But we work as hard as anybody I've ever known and certainly as hard as I've ever worked.
10:41Can you share a moment that didn't go as planned and what leadership looked like in that moment?
10:50That's every day, Dwight. Tell us some stories.
10:56You know, I can't tell you stories.
10:58Well, there are some stories you can tell.
10:59But the Trump White House is nimble. That's dynamic. Those are the nice ways of saying it changes every day.
11:08And so you just really – I had a head start because I went to work almost full-time for
11:14the president in 2021.
11:16So I've been watching this movie a while. And you just have to roll with it.
11:21He will – you never know what he comes downstairs with in the morning.
11:25But whatever it is, you have to move it forward and deal with it.
11:29So it's – life is not – the surprises are not surprised. They are what they are every day.
11:37Okay. The kind of work you do requires intensity, resilience, and long stretches of pressure, just by definition.
11:47What helps you stay grounded in the midst of it all?
11:51Well, when you introduced yourself and talked about yourself, you talked about your children.
11:57One of whom I understand works with us. Is that right? One of your children works with us?
12:01She may even be here. I don't know if Kevin Hassett let her go.
12:04I see you.
12:05Delaney.
12:07Yeah. So one is a Marine. One is working in the White House.
12:15The third one jokes that the first two are on the public dole.
12:18So he has to be in the private sector making money. So he's with a startup in Austin.
12:24I have two daughters, grown daughters, and a grandson.
12:27And so you wake up – I wake up every morning thinking about what I can do, just in my
12:32little piece of the world,
12:34to make the world and their lives better going into the future.
12:38That is enough to motivate me. Others may need more. I don't. That's all I need.
12:51I appreciate you saying that, but I've got to still think there's something that you may do when you need
12:56time to reset and recharge.
12:58What would that be? What's the Susie Wiles recharge your batteries strategy?
13:04I love to walk wherever I am. I find a good path and walk. I have a very eclectic music
13:11playlist that I listen to that has nothing to do with politics or anything.
13:17And it's – I think the most recent song on it is probably from 2000.
13:25Having worked so closely with President Trump, what's something he insisted on during a campaign that made you think,
13:32that's very on brand, but I did not see that coming.
13:39Well, it's no secret in this room we – and I see Todd Blanchier – we had a few trials
13:45and a little courtroom time.
13:47And in one particular trial, at the end of the day, he walked out to talk to the press and
13:54just sort of held court out in this nasty, dirty courthouse in lower Manhattan, right?
14:00Yes.
14:00And I thought, why are you doing this? And yet, so on brand. Of course he did that at the
14:06end of the day for like weeks running.
14:10And there are so many examples of that where he does not – he doesn't do what you think he's
14:16going to do, but it is so him and it works so well.
14:20When he decided to serve McDonald's or drive a garbage truck, was that his idea?
14:28No. I spoke earlier of a great team and that was their idea.
14:35The McDonald's – I mean, that just sells itself. He eats it every single day.
14:43And the garbage truck – I see Brett Powell here. I think she had something to do with the garbage
14:47truck.
14:49Okay. When you first started working with President Trump, what was the biggest, this is not what I was briefed
14:55for moment?
14:58I was after – I did not go into the White House in 16. The 2020 election, I worked for
15:06– I ran Florida.
15:07And then when he came back to Florida after leaving the White House, he called me and invited me to
15:11dinner, which I was not in the inner circle.
15:14I was just overwhelmed. I couldn't imagine why.
15:19I drove down to Mar-a-Lago, which I think he thought – I live, you know, ten minutes from
15:23there, but it's really four hours.
15:26And we had a lovely dinner and at the end of it, he wanted to know why he won Florida,
15:32but maybe struggled in some other states that I think we're going to find out he actually did win.
15:38But I wrote like an after-action report, gave it to him to read, and as I was going out
15:44the door, he said, I have a pack, and I think it has money in it, but I'm not sure.
15:51And I'm not sure who works there. Can you take that over? And I said, well, sir, you know, I
15:57have a job.
15:58He said, no, you can do it in your free time. You can get it done in a week or
16:00so.
16:01And I did. So here I am.
16:05Very good. He does get value for money, doesn't he?
16:09He does.
16:11So we have only a few seconds. Do you have time for two questions?
16:14Of course.
16:14Okay. As you reflect on your career, what is a lesson that you learned that you wished you had known
16:20earlier?
16:24I really have always believed in the concept of a team. I was raised in a family of athletes who
16:34understood the value of all of that.
16:36I raised my own girls that way. But the full extent of what you can do if you have good
16:41people around you, you don't want to get any credit, and you just want to put the best product out
16:48that you possibly can, is something I wish I'd known in my 20s.
16:51I didn't. Not like I do today. So I think that's what I wish I had known earlier.
16:58And finally, when you think about the legacy of your work, what do you hope people will say about your
17:05impact?
17:07I have not thought about that. I'm not leaving anytime soon.
17:20I guess I want to be known as somebody who is predictable, steady, considerate of everybody, the people that work
17:29with me and the people that maybe oppose me or us.
17:33And we've moved forward. We've moved forward at a pace that's almost inconceivable, and yet we continue to do that.
17:41And I'm very proud of our ability to pull everything together to get that done.
17:49I hope I remembered for that. I also, and I think I can say this, I got a cancer diagnosis
17:56nine weeks ago, and I come to work every day.
18:01I do my job. I don't complain. And I think that sets an example, too, for the people I work
18:07with.
18:08Bravo.
18:17We give out awards to honor people, but truly I think it is we who are honored by your accepting
18:24this award.
18:25And I'd like you all to join me in one more round of applause for Suzy Wise.
18:29Thank you so much.
18:30A woman of valor.
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