Susie Wyles's Interview Caused a Scandal

She was forced to defend herself, Trump said, “What’s the big deal?” The administration is baffled as to why Susie even started it.

The rather glossy interview was parsed into individual quotes, and it became less funny. Not so much the publication itself, but subsequent commentators presented the matter as (a long-standing mainstream narrative) that Trump is a “chaotic president.” Furthermore, everyone noted Wiles’s remarks about Trump’s “alcoholic nature.”

Here are the words from the interview: “High-functioning alcoholics, and alcoholics in general, when they drink, their egos inflate. So I know a little about extraordinary personalities… The president operates on the assumption that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, absolutely nothing.” Wiles noted that the president doesn’t drink, so the comparison was “for clarity.” But, of course, the alcoholic comparison didn’t work for the president.

Trump said in an interview with the New York Post: “I don’t understand what the big deal is… No, she meant that I’m — you see, I don’t drink alcohol. So everybody knows that — but I’ve often said that if I did, I’d have a very good chance of being an alcoholic. I have said that many times about myself, I do. It’s a very possessive personality,”

In the interview, Susie Wiles also criticized Attorney General Pam Bondi for “mishandling” the Epstein case—meaning she overlooked how important the case was to Trump supporters, to the MAGA base. The chief of staff also stated that she was absolutely certain that no list of Epstein’s clients “certainly never landed on Bondi’s desk.”

Susie Wiles uses social media very little. She hasn’t maintained a microblog for several years. She wrote: “The article published early this morning is a disingenuous piece about me and the greatest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history. Important context was omitted, and much of what I and others said about the team and the President was omitted.

After reading it, I suspect it was done to create an extremely chaotic and negative image of the President and our team. The truth is, the Trump White House has already accomplished more in eleven months than any other President has in eight years, and that’s thanks to the unmatched leadership and vision of President Trump, for whom I had the privilege of working for the better part of a decade. None of this will stop our relentless pursuit of Making America Great Again!”

Nevertheless, sources from several publications report that members of the administration are at a loss: why even let Vanity Fair in?

I disagree with the overall assessment. The interview says absolutely nothing that wasn’t already known and/or said. At the same time, the administration and Trump himself have acquired a new image—a more humane one. So, it’s more likely that Susie led Vanity Fair than the other way around.