White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles broke ranks and made waves with a series of jaw-dropping interviews Tuesday.
Vanity Fair published the first of a two-part article based on interviews Wiles gave to writer Chris Whipple, who published a well-regarded book on White House chiefs of staff. Journalists, political staffers and other social media users were stunned by some of her revelations.
The New York Times summed up some of them in its own publication of excerpts from Whipple's work: "Over the course of 11 interviews, Ms. Wiles offered pungent assessments of the president and his team: Mr. Trump 'has an alcoholic’s personality.' Vice President JD Vance has 'been a conspiracy theorist for a decade' and his conversion from Trump critic to ally was based not on principle but was 'sort of political' because he was running for Senate. Elon Musk is 'an avowed ketamine' user and 'an odd, odd duck,' whose actions were not always 'rational' and left her 'aghast.' Russell T. Vought, the budget director, is 'a right-wing absolute zealot.' And Attorney General Pam Bondi 'completely whiffed' in handling the Epstein files."
"This is, shall we say, quite candid," wrote Semafor's Elana Schor.
"Damn. Susie Wiles still has to like, go to work today after saying this," posted James Singer, communications director for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).
"Susie Wiles is gonna have a tough day," agreed former GOP strategist Rick Wilson.
"Susie Wiles knows that JD Vance and Elon Musk are dangerous idiots," added Finnish researcher Joni Askola.
"This Susie Wiles interview is wild," marveled The Bulwark's Sam Stein. "But also shows that she really does see herself as a facilitator for Trump, not a strategist employed by him: Openly disagreeing with the boss on a host of big fronts with apparently zero thought that she might not be the right fit."
"Trump's own chief of staff bolting for the exits and going into desperate career preservation mode is a ~sign~," observed the popular Bluesky user Internet Hippo.
"Wiles is on the record," said former broadcaster John Cardillo. "Hard to spin this one."
"The unemployment numbers are so bad, Trump might hold off on firing Wiles just to avoid adding a single new one," joked historian Kevin Kruse.
"Haven't read the article yet, but sounds like a dramatic exit interview from Susie Wiles," posted The Bulwark's Bill Kristol.
"Wiles must be leaving," suggested attorney Bradley Moss. "This story is insane."
"My theory is that Wiles is not leaving, that Trump somehow thinks he needs her, or that she provides him some sort of cover," speculated journalist Sarah Posner. "But she sees the writing on the wall of his crumbling popularity, and wants to create the (false) impression that she tried to stop his worst impulses."