Susie Wells, the unassuming agent supporting Donald Trump’s campaign
Editor’s Note (November 7): Trump appointed Wiles as White House chief of staff, his first major appointment since his election victory.
SOssie Wales He can’t control everything. Take Donald Trump, its president: his campaign rants, his unvetted social media posts, his questionable guests at Mar-a-Lago. Some of these things over the past three years have made her job more difficult. Democrats are also out of her reach — their decision to replace Joe Biden, around whom Ms. Wiles designed a campaign, has derailed her plans.
But Wiles, a 67-year-old grandmother who spent decades helping Republicans win elections in Florida, works hard to control what she can control. She is balanced, very organized and a problem solver. With her boxy jackets, reflective shades, and blonde hair that sometimes appears silvery, she can appear austere — but by all accounts she’s warm and kind. It has developed a powerful network of politicians, policy types, lobbyists, and reporters. The loyal staff she brought to the Trump campaign is known as the “Florida Mafia.”
Her success as Trump’s de facto campaign manager will depend on what voters do on November 5. But Wiles, who avoids photo ops and is said to be quick to give others credit, has already achieved a lot. Trump left the White House in 2021 as a political pariah. He is about to return victorious.
She admitted to Politico that she sees similarities between the former president and her late father, Pat Summerall, an American football player who became a famous sports broadcaster and an alcoholic. Like Trump, he was a difficult man to manage. Her mother made sure the house ran well in spite of him, before finally convincing him to get treatment.
Ms. Wells grew up thriving in New Jersey, playing tennis and basketball. She got her start in politics by working for Jack Kemp, a Republican congressman from New York who was her father’s teammate. She worked for Ronald Reagan on his presidential campaign and in the White House, and in 1985 she moved to Florida with her then-husband.
Mrs. Wiles started a political consulting firm in Jacksonville and raised two daughters. She worked for three Republican mayors and earned a reputation as an intelligent, practical, and well-connected activist. She helped a little-known businessman named Rick Scott win the governorship (he is now a senator). She appears to be motivated more by the challenge of winning an election campaign than by ideology. However, none of its previous presidents faced the same challenge as Trump.
Florida was a swing state in 2016, and some viewed it as a bellwether. Trump called her to head his operation in Florida, where he was living part-time at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. As a card-carrying member [GOP] Mrs. Wales said: New York Times In 2016. After falling in the polls, he nearly fired her that fall (he reportedly switched clothes while eating a steak at Mar-a-Lago), but she insisted she could do it.
As Florida went, so went the country — for Mr. Trump. Wiles then worked for Ron DeSantis, the little-known congressman whose bid for governor was saved when Trump endorsed him. He won, but made the unwise decision to cut ties with her. It helped Trump win Florida in the 2020 elections, despite losing the presidency. After his defeat, and the January 6 Capitol riot, it was not at all certain that he would run again. But in early 2021, when few others were going to take the gamble, she agreed to join the board of the fundraising committee he was forming to direct money to the midterm races. Within weeks, she took control of the chaotic White House operation that was backing down-ballot Republican candidates, covering the legal fees of Trump allies, and charting the former president’s next steps. .
By November 2022, he announced that he would run again. Wiles and Chris Lacivita, her campaign co-manager (although not on equal footing in practice), have developed a strategy that will play to their candidate’s strengths. Initially, DeSantis, who aspired to be the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, had more money and a bigger operation in Iowa, where the first GOP primary was held. So, instead of endless door knocking, they used a streamlined, targeted plan to identify Trump fans who might not be registered to vote. They won Iowa by a landslide. And in the general election, they pushed — successfully, according to July poll numbers — an entirely simple narrative: Mr. Biden was weak, Mr. Trump was strong. They similarly wrote that they pushed for a stripped-down party platform, no more “long textbook” theses. The resulting 16-page document bore Trump’s signature policy proposals, delivered in his own style (“We are a nation in serious decline”).
Ms. Wiles claimed she had persuaded her boss to do some practical things: for example, urging his supporters to vote by mail and to tone down plagiarized election comments. In fact, he remains so paranoid about the integrity of the election, he can only insist that he won in 2020 and did not remain “disciplined” for too long. But his message still resonates, his rhetoric remains inflammatory, and his character flaws still leave many Republicans undeterred, either ardent supporters or willing to hold their noses and vote for him. If enough of them do, Ms. Wells may be headed for a more difficult position in the Trump administration. He may offer her the position of White House chief of staff. ■
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