White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has made an unusually blunt observation about President Donald Trump, describing the teetotal president as someone with what she called an “alcoholic’s personality.”
The remark came in a rare and wide-ranging interview for a Vanity Fair profile, offering an uncommon glimpse into the thinking of one of Trump’s most powerful and private advisers. Wiles, often referred to by Trump as the “Ice Maiden,” is known for avoiding media attention despite her outsized influence inside the White House.
Wiles drew the comparison from personal experience, referencing her late father, legendary NFL player and broadcaster Pat Summerall, who struggled with alcoholism before becoming sober more than two decades before his death in 2013.
“Some clinical psychologist who knows one million times more than I do will dispute what I’m going to say,” Wiles told the magazine. “But high-functioning alcoholics, or alcoholics in general, have exaggerated personalities when they drink. And so I’m a little bit of an expert in big personalities.”
She said Trump shares that same intensity. According to Wiles, the president “has an alcoholic’s personality” and approaches life with the belief that “there’s nothing he can’t do—nothing, zero, nothing.”
Trump famously does not drink alcohol, often citing the struggles and early death of his older brother, Fred Trump, as the reason. Instead, the president is known for his fondness for Diet Coke, even installing a button on the Resolute Desk that alerts staff to bring him the drink.
Wiles, the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff, has been one of Trump’s most loyal and trusted figures for years. She also managed his successful 2024 campaign and is widely seen as a central force in shaping how the White House functions, even if she operates mostly behind the scenes.
Her authority has not gone unnoticed. One former Republican official told Vanity Fair that Wiles is uniquely positioned in Trump’s orbit. “So many decisions of great consequence are being made on the whim of the president,” the former official said. “And as far as I can tell, the only force that can direct or channel that whim is Susie. In most White Houses, the chief of staff is first among a bunch of equals. She may be first with no equals.”
Wiles recalled first meeting Trump in 2015 on the set of The Apprentice, noting that he was impressed to learn she was Summerall’s daughter. “He’s said it a million times,” she said. “‘I judge people by their genes.’”
She has previously acknowledged that she has difficult conversations with Trump nearly every day, though she said they are usually about minor issues rather than major constitutional or life-and-death matters. “They’re over little things, not big,” Wiles said. “I hear stories from my predecessors about these seminal moments where you have to go in and tell the president what he wants to do is unconstitutional or will cost lives. I don’t have that.”
According to Wiles, she is selective about when and how she pushes back. “So no, I’m not an enabler. I’m also not a b—h,” she said. “I try to be thoughtful about what I even engage in. I guess time will tell whether I’ve been effective.”
The Vanity Fair interviews marked a striking departure from Wiles’ usual discretion. In them, she also suggested Vice President JD Vance has “been a conspiracy theorist for a decade” and described former Trump ally Elon Musk as an “avowed ketamine [user].” She openly referred to efforts to prosecute one of Trump’s enemies as “retribution.”
Such candid, unfiltered commentary from a sitting White House chief of staff is virtually unheard of. What the unusually frank disclosures mean for Wiles’ future inside Trump’s inner circle remains an open question.
