Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A VANITY FAIR interview with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has been causing quite a stir in US political circles.
The two-part article series included over a dozen interviews with Wiles where she discussed a variety of issues which have come up in the eleven months since Trump took power, including the Epstein Files, Elon Musk’s roles in government and tariffs.
The article kicked off with the Chief of Staff describing US President Donald Trump as having an “alcoholic’s personality”.
She went on to say vice president JD Vance has been “a conspiracy theorist for a decade” and described Russell Vought, head of the Office of Management and Budget as “a right-wing absolute zealot”.
These statements might not seem very MAGA-like, but Wiles is a die-hard Trump acolyte – and the most senior political appointee in the White House. Whoever holds the role of Chief of Staff has enormous power and influence in the US system.
Wiles, 68, has spent decades in Republican politics. She first began working with Trump in 2016 and had an important role in the success of his 2024 presidential campaign.
She’s the first woman to be White House Chief of Staff.
Here are the key takeaways from the article.
Wiles said that she understands alcoholics due to her experience with her father, when she was a child.
She said: ”High-functioning alcoholics or alcoholics in general, their personalities are exaggerated when they drink. And so I’m a little bit of an expert in big personalities.”
She said Trump has “an alcoholic’s personality”. He “operates [with] a view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing.”
Touching on the Epstein files, which Trump has recently (but reluctantly) agreed to release, Wiles said the Vice President was a conspiracy theorist when it came to the topic. (Speaking to reporters today, Vance said he only believes in conspiracy theories that are “true”).
She also said his shift to becoming a Trump supporter was “sort of political”.
Vance opposed Trump’s presidential run in 2016, but became a strong supporter during his first presidency before being added to the ticket for 2024.
Vice President JD Vance has responded to quotes from White House chief of staff Susie Wiles which described him as a conspiracy theorist. pic.twitter.com/cQiBaucfxI
— The Independent (@Independent) December 16, 2025
Wiles also described Space X and Tesla boss Elon Musk as an ”avowed” ketamine user.
She said he “sleeps in a sleeping bag in the EOB [the Executive Office Building]“.
“He’s an odd, odd duck, as I think geniuses are … you know, it’s not helpful, but he is his own person,” she added.
Musk was in charge of cost-cutting efforts at the Department of Government Efficiency. He left the government in May and afterwards had a bitter public spat with Trump.
Wiles criticised Musk’s role in the shutdown of the US Agency for International Development.
“Elon’s attitude is you have to get it done fast. If you’re an incrementalist, you just won’t get your rocket to the moon,” she said.
“No rational person could think the USAID process was a good one”.
When it came to Trump’s decision to pardon those involved in the Capitol riots, Wiles admitted she questioned his thinking.
She recalled saying “I am on board with the people that were happenstancers or didn’t do anything violent.”
However, she said Trump said that even the violent offenders had been unfairly treated.
“In every case, of the ones he was looking at, in every case, they had already served more time than the sentencing guidelines would have suggested. So given that, I sort of got on board,” she said.
“There have been a couple of times where I’ve been outvoted,” Wiles said. “And if there’s a tie, he wins.”
According to the article she also tried to slow down Trump on his tariff decisions, alongside Vance.
Trump’s presidency has been characterised by an aggressive trade stance which saw high tariffs imposed on many foreign imports, although he recently moved to cut tariffs on a wide range of imported foods.
“We told Donald Trump, ‘Hey, let’s not talk about tariffs today. Let’s wait until we have the team in complete unity and then we’ll do it.”
She said the tariff issue has been “more painful” than she expected.
Wiles is – to say the least – not particularly happy with the article. In a statement on X yesterday she said it was a “disingenuously framed hit piece” on her, the President, Cabinet and White House.
Trump has said he stands by his chief of staff.
In an interview with the New York Post he said Wiles was right to describe him as having an alcoholic’s personality, as although he is a teetotal, if he did drink he thinks he’d probably be an alcoholic.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say