The Curious Case of Susie Wiles

A Vanity Fair Profile, Sans Photoshopping

When Chris Whipple set out on his behind-the-scene storytelling of Susie Wiles, it was probably to anoint Washington’s most powerful unelected woman. She is, the first female White House Chief of Staff. Where the story has taken a turn is that it has become a live stress test of Trump 2.0.

A test the internet has immediately treated like a Rorschach blot.

Susie Wiles wanted to project control in the Vanity Fair article. After all, she spoke on the record & on tape, as did the rest of the Trump cabinet, to Whipple. (Read the Vanity Fair Story in FULL: Part 1 can be found here & Part 2 can be found here).

And why not? The man has an impressive track record of getting to the heart of administrations at the White House. He has authored the New York Times best seller The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency. His most recent book is Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History. His bonafides are even burnished with the title of associate fellow of the Timothy Dwight College at Yale.

The message that Susie has landed though, after 11 interviews at various junctures of the 11 months giving Whipple access, is: managing Trump 2.0 could be mistaken for pure crisis choreography. Her “adults in the room” narrative is probably the only one to have survived, but it is unfortunately now styled up with a lot of junkyard dog references.

The internet’s made Susie go viral

Wiles’s quotes have since, not surprisingly, gone viral. And it has turned the VF profile into a internet Rorschach test. Memes are constantly being created with Wiles as a mob boss or Cersei (game of thrones) at the Resolute Desk, in Succession posters, and even the Real Housewives of Mar-a-Lago. Or the one that caught our eye? Her herding “junkyard dogs.”

• The Left: sees an administration in chaos. Her comments that Trump has an “Alcoholic’s personality,” her conspiracy theorist jabs at JD Vance, Elon Musk’s ketamine problem, Pam Bondi etc, seem proof enough for them, she could be distancing herself from West Wing.

• The Right: sees media sabotage of a official they regard highly and the undermining of the first woman in the job. MAGA influencers and the White House have accused VF and Whipple of selective editing. They have instead hailed her loyalty and flipped the much analysed VF photoshoot (by the brilliant Christopher Anderson) into a pitch about Wiles’ “ice maiden energy.” In their books she is an alpha operator.

Woman infrastructure, with a VF photoshoot

Yes, she has made history: first woman in the role. But she also seems to be repeating history.

As Vanity Fair frames it, Wiles appears less as governing architect for Trump and more an emotional regulator. Her descriptions of Trump and his cabinet seem reminiscent of celebrity rehab memoirs than incisive leadership analysis.

Supporters (for example, New York Post) have hailed the all access story as proof of a new age. Women now run populist power centres. Critics (for example Vox) see something far more traditional : women as load-bearing infrastructure, absorbing volatility (of people and policies) allowing the machine to keep running, if not smoothly.

Inside DC, the discomfort doesn’t seem as much about VF’s tone, as about the level of permission/access given by Wiles. Journalists have noted that sitting chiefs of staff rarely talk this freely. Was this a hit job or a self-authored leak?

Both sides can admit though that the story is heavy on proximity to power and light on outcomes.

The rest of the world is reading for other signals

Outside the U.S. the VF profile isn’t being treated as celebrity gossip/ voyeurism, or even as feeding the polarised political debate (sans perhaps some in the UK).

It is instead being treated as a risk analysis memo from the U.S. (albeit with great lighting and no photoshopping).

• Europe: French, German, and Italian media coverage has been muted and pragmatic, focusing on signals for transatlantic stability rather than US domestic drama. Most UK coverage too has leaned into the volatility angle. In Europe’s case NATO nerves, tariff threats and late-night reversals signal a chief of staff in permanent firefight mode. Not exactly calming.

• Middle East: Middle Eastern media coverage has been pragmatic and selective, emphasising Wiles’ foreign policy insights. Al Jazeera framed it as one familiar to the region. ‘Court-politics’ logic: a loyal fixer managing a mercurial ruler. Saudi pundits have noted her Epstein/Maduro candour as proof U.S. commitments under Trump remain personality-driven, not institutional.

• Asia: Asian media coverage has been decidedly sparse and wire service driven. Coverage for now has prioritised geopolitical risk signals, with India showing the most engagement and Wiles’ being portrayed as a plus for PM Modi’s trade talks with the U.S. Japan Times and Kyodo also chose to focus on tariffs, domestic pivots, and market adjustments, as did Korean media. China predictably folded her quotes into the state media’s usual “US decline” trope.

• Latin America: Spanish-language outlets in the U.S. have focused on immigration enforcement and the Venezuela stand-off, but coverage across the continent has remained sparse and wire-service led. For now, Latin America seems to be brushing the whole thing off.

The global verdict

Left-leaning outlets are framing the VF profile as one of institutional erosion. Pragmatic ones are crediting Wiles for radical candour. But across the world it is undeniable that one message is being received loudly and clearly. That women may be indispensable to Trump’s operating system, but the system runs on loyalty over process and without doubt, on improvisation.

The tell is simple: when your most disciplined and respected team member generates days of destabilising headlines just by speaking plainly, the problem isn’t a hostile media.

It perhaps underscores a ship that needs to be put right quickly. Because beyond the performance for a domestic audience, the rest of the world is watching. Amused, wary, and already hedging.

Note: Our thanks to Vanity Fair, Photographer Christopher Anderson & Author Chris Wipple

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