'Befuddlement': Key Trump adviser's friends baffled that she backs him

The influence on political events of Trump senior adviser Susie Wiles "is as obvious as it is invisible," according to a new profile. "She’s one of the reasons Trump is the GOP’s presumptive nominee and Ron DeSantis is not," according to Politico reporter Michael Kruse.

"She’s one of the reasons Trump’s current operation has been getting credit for being more professional than its fractious, seat-of-the-pants antecedents," Kruse wrote.

"And she’s a leading reason Trump has every chance to get elected again — even after his loss of 2020, the insurrection of 2021, his party’s defeats in the midterms of 2022, the criminal indictments of 2023 and the trial (or trials) of 2024."

People speaking to Politico praised Wiles' influence. Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio told Kruse that "nobody" has the "wealth of information" Wiles does. Former Florida Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo told Kruse that “she’s one of the most consequential people in American politics right now.”

Wiles has worked in politics for more than 40 years and is a self-described moderate. But both Democrats and Republicans who are familiar with her work are struggling to understand why she'd work with Donald Trump

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"Wiles is no Trump puppeteer, but his successes, which are in no small measure also successes of hers, have engendered a level of condemnation and even just befuddlement that almost demands the kind of public accounting and self-reflection in which she’s never engaged," Kruse writes.

"Wiles, after all, used to work and work hard for Republicans who say they’ve never voted for Trump and never will."

Speaking to Wiles, Kruse reminded her that some people compare her to some of history's most notorious aiders and abetters of totalitarian leaders, to which she responded that such descriptions would just make her "turn my back and walk away."

"They don’t know the inner workings of Trump world. They don’t know. And so they don’t have a right to judge in that way, in my opinion, and I’m not going to dignify it. I’m not,” she said.

Miami-based Democratic pollster and MSNBC analyst Fernand Amandi told Kruse that Wiles is way too smart not to see the worst dictatorial tendencies in Trump. “She knows who Trump is," Amandi said.

Some see Wiles as a person who can temper Trump's extremism.

“If [Trump] wins, and I certainly hope he doesn’t, but if he were to win again, I would hope to hell that she will play a major role,” said Wiles' friend Paul McCormick.

“If Donald Trump is going to be president, I want Susie Wiles involved,” former Republican Congressmember Carlos Curbelo said.

“I’m not particularly for Trump, but I love Susie," said longtime Washington lobbyist Charlie Black.

Read the full article over at Politico.