The mastermind behind Trump 2.0
Susie Wiles helped dismantle Ron DeSantis and salvaged Donald Trump’s campaign. Is she a MAGA hero or an enemy of democracy?
With the White House Correspondents’ Dinner coming up tomorrow, it’s once again time for the POLITICO Magazine Media Issue — our deep dive into the people and institutions behind the stories that shape politics. And we’re starting out with a deeply reported profile of perhaps the most consequential shaper of stories in 2024 and beyond.
She crushed Ron DeSantis. She saved Donald Trump. She’s become the most celebrated and feared, the most admired and reviled operative in politics. But unless you work in politics yourself, you probably don’t even know who she is.
In this week’s Friday Read, Michael Kruse charts the rise of Susie Wiles, Trump’s most influential adviser, from her work for traditionalists like John McCain, to her explosive divorce from the DeSantis campaign and her ultimate MAGA conversion.
“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,” Kruse writes. “The former president is potentially a future president. And that’s because of him. But it’s also because of her.”
“But all kidding aside, obviously, we all know about your credentials and breadth of experience. … In an episode of Celebrity Apprentice, at the steakhouse, the men’s cooking team cooking did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks. And there was a lot of blame to go around. But you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so ultimately, you didn’t blame Lil’ Jon or Meatloaf. You fired Gary Busey. And these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. Well handled, sir.”
Can you guess who said this about Trump? Scroll to the bottom for the answer.**
The Thirstiest Members in Congress … Forget the Oscars — they’re ancient history. The Grammys? Who cares. Now’s the time for a real awards season. Now’s the time for the second annual Thirsties Awards — honoring the most shameless media-seekers in Congress. Did your favorite lawmaker make the cut? Who will take home this year’s highly anticipated People’s Choice Award? Aaaaand the winner is…
Nerd prom is upon us — but not everyone is exactly drowning in party invites. If you’re not getting behind the VIP ropes this year, not to worry: These quips will still have you sounding like a White House Correspondents' Dinner insider this weekend. (From POLITICO’s Ryan Lizza)
- Drop the name of a made-up, super-elite sounding event to create FOMO: “I might stop by the NBC thing, but then I’m going to the GoJo-Slugline Blue Ball at the Italian ambassador’s house.”
- Remind everyone what a burden it is for you to have to attend so many parties: “Ugh, I have to go to the Meridian party in Adams Morgan to the WME party in Penn Quarter to the POLITICO party at the U.K. embassy all in one night.” Bonus points if you can drop the fact that you pulled the WHCA weekend equivalent of a full Ginsburg by appearing at five major parties in one night.
- Criticize Times reporters for refusing to attend the dinner because of its alleged unseemliness while still going to all the attendant parties. Bonus points if you catch a Timesman in the Hilton itself at the pre-dinner receptions, a seeming gray area of the paper’s longtime boycott.
- Regale younger journalists with your deep historical knowledge of the event: “This celebrity nonsense is all Michael Kelly’s fault.” (Google it.) Bonus points if you can work in an anecdote about seeing Matt Drudge at the Hilton in 1998.
- Roll your eyes about how silly Playbook’s SPOTTED feature is but email your name to Daniel Lippman on the sly. Bonus points for humbly placing your name in the middle of a long list of VIPs.
The Graying President vs. the Gray Lady … For conservatives, The New York Times is the epitome of the liberal press — but according to dozens of interviews, the paper’s relationship with the Democratic president is incredibly tense, marked by misunderstandings, grudges and a fundamental lack of trust. Joe Biden’s staffers say the Times is “entitled.” Reporters say the White House is being unrealistic about coverage of his age and other issues. White House correspondent Eli Stokols takes us inside the petty feuds between the president and the paper of record.
The PR Flack Spilling DC’s Tea … PR operative Phil Elwood has made a career of shaping stories and manipulating the media in the Beltway. Now, he’s about to come out with a bridge-burning memoir. “My hunch is it’s going to be one of the big, buzzy Beltway books of the year,” writes Michael Schaffer in this week’s Capital City column — full of “epic tales about scoring cocaine for a Gaddafi son, securing soft-focus magazine coverage for the Assad regime and convincing a foreign leader to blackmail the U.S. government.”
How Trump Gets the News … There’s no question that Trump has changed the media. But has the media changed him? It hasn’t changed his preference for print or his love of cable news. But a look at how Trump currently gets his news offers insights into his thinking. Meredith McGraw surfaced six things to know about how Trump consumes news as he runs his third presidential campaign, from his fraying relationship with Fox to his newfound love for texting.
The Man Behind Every Good MAGA Morning … Move over, Tucker — the world of MAGA is about to get a new bright media star. Brian Glenn is trumpeting a Trumpified report from atop the Right Side Broadcasting Network. “Glenn is fast becoming one of Trump’s favorite reporters, likely racking up more one-on-one interviews with Trump in the last year than any other journalist,” writes Adam Wren. Oh, and he happens to be dating Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The Anti-Trump Legal Movement Meets on Zoom … Trump’s trial(s) have made legal punditry a lucrative profession, and all those courtly prognosticators of cable news fame need a way to pressure test their ideas about all the latest twists and turns. So a bunch of them are meeting, every week, on Zoom. Rules of Law columnist and former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori reveals the previously unreported calls — and what he learned might surprise you.
When DC Dined in Glamour … i Ricchi, an Italian restaurant two blocks from Dupont Circle, used to draw a who’s who of the Beltway. Hillary Clinton used to have a favorite table. Oprah Winfrey, Mariah Carey, Sidney Poitier — they all dined there. Former editor in chief of POLITICO Matt Kaminski ought to know — he used to be a valet there when he was 18. “What a place the restaurant of that day was — unlike any I had seen in Washington then or since,” he writes.
**Who Dissed answer: It was of course then-President Barack Obama, delivering infamous barbs at Trump — who had boosted the myth that Obama was born outside the U.S. — during the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2011.
