“Wiles and Trump are loyal to each other because, after DeSantis, Trump brought Susie back from the political dead,” a source told The Hill in 2022.
Key to her appeal, reports claim, was that, unlike other members of Trump’s entourage who sought to leech off of him, Ms Wiles wasn’t looking to gain political capital in return.
When she first accepted the job of running Trump’s campaign in the lead-up to the 2022 midterms, she asked only that her travel expenses be covered, reports suggest.
“She’s purely focused on doing whatever she can for my father,” Donald Trump Jr previously said of Ms Wiles. “It’s not about making money, it’s not about getting press, it’s not about getting credit, it’s about doing everything she can to fight for my dad.”
Described variously as “the most powerful Republican you don’t know” and “the most feared” political operative in America, Ms Wiles is allegedly one of few people respected enough by the president for him to listen when she disagrees with him.
Bear-pit of politics
Taking up the mantle of Trump’s chief of staff will be no mean feat. Of her four predecessors, all of whom were men, one was fired via Twitter, two are now outspoken opponents of the president-elect and the final one, Mark Meadows, is still being pursued over charges relating to attempting to overturn the 2020 election.
But Ms Wiles is no stranger to the male-dominated bear pit of Republican politics.
Born and raised in New Jersey, Ms Wiles is the daughter of the late NFL star and broadcaster Pat Summerall. The campaign manager first cut her teeth in politics as a scheduler in Ronald Regan’s successful 1980 campaign.
She went on to develop a reputation for winning in Florida as chief of staff to Jacksonville mayor John Delaney in the 90s as well as for Florida congresswoman Tillie Fowler.
“I have rarely met someone with her instincts for politics and policy and where they intersect,” Mr Delaney previously said. “She knows what to magnify that will resonate with the public.”
As a young aide in the Reagan administration, she experienced her first brush with scandal when her boss Raymond Donovan was investigated for alleged connections to the Florida mob.
Her reputation came under further scrutiny amid allegations the former president had shown her classified documents for which he had been indicted.
There is also speculation surrounding her daughter, Caroline Wiles. The younger Wiles was hired by the White House as a deputy assistant to the president and director of scheduling, despite the Washington Post noting that, with her incomplete degree, she had an “unusual background” for the senior role.
Broad coalition
Having served as CEO of Trump’s Save America PAC since March 2021, Susie Wiles has united a broad coalition of Republicans under the Trump banner in order to lead him to victory. “She has to interact with people who think [the election was stolen], and people who don’t,” political strategist Michael Caputo told CNN.
Her ability as a dealmaker suggests her willingness to compromise with various factions within her party in order to bring about change.
“I come from a very traditional background,” she once told Politico. “In my early career, things like manners mattered and there was an expected level of decorum. And so I get it that the GOP of today is different. There are changes we must live with in order to get done the things we’re trying to do.”
Those concerned about what a second Trump term will look like may take solace in the fact that Ms Wiles is widely viewed as a moderating influence on her boss’s more capricious tendencies.
“Her power with Trump is based on her ability to present him with a full range of options,” a source previously told The Hill. “Because Trump is impulsive, Wiles makes sure Trump has heard the full range of options, upsides, and downsides. She makes sure he has all the information.
“When he does, Trump makes good decisions. When he doesn’t is when bad decisions are made.”
Former Florida congressman Carlos Curbelo sums up the mood among many Republicans: “If Donald Trump is going to be president, I want Susie Wiles involved.”