The Ice Maiden Cometh

Trump chooses Susie Wiles, a quiet grandmother, as his chief of staff - the first woman ever to hold the job.

Susie Wiles is a Florida-based political strategist with a long track record of success going back to her work on one of Ronald Reagan’s campaigns. A key figure in running Trump’s successful campaign, she has apparently gained his complete confidence and trust. Her mandate is to protect him from the sort of dubious characters, interlopers, and hangars-on that cluttered and confused his first term. With her quiet efficiency and aversion to the limelight, she has come to be known in Trump’s inner circle as the Ice Maiden.

Trump’s detractors, who never grow weary of claiming he is a misogynist, must now somehow come to terms with the fact that he chose a woman to be his chief of staff—the first in history to hold the position. By numerous accounts, she has the experience and skill to run a tight ship and to navigate Trump’s team through the treacherous waters ahead.

I find it reassuring that she is a grandmother who values discretion and modesty and has no interest in being on television. This suggests that she possesses the increasingly rare quality of gravitas. She may be exactly the chief of staff whom Trump needs.

Postscript: A few Substack authors are urging vigilance about Trump’s choice of Susie Wiles because she was, for a time, co-chair of the Mercury public affairs firm, whose clients include Pfizer, GAVI, and Gilead Sciences—i.e., key players in the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex. On the other hand, these companies are just three out of Mercury’s 550 clients from a wide array of industries. Any major lobbying firm is likely to have a few Pharma companies on its client roster, so this fact alone probably isn’t grounds for suspecting Wiles of working as an unofficial agent of Pharma interests.