When you see Donald Trump talking to people in McDonald’s or Arby’s in addition to riling up the hordes at large rallies, it’s a little shift in tone toward traditional “retail politics” — and it’s likely on the advice of Susie Wiles.
Wiles, whose first work for a president came as a scheduler on Ronald Reagan‘s 1980 campaign, is a senior advisor to Trump on the 2024 campaign trail.
Wiles helped Trump win Florida in 2016, then helped Ron DeSantis win a landslide re-election bid as Florida Governor in 2018. But DeSantis evidently had reservations about keeping Wiles around after his victory, and back when DeSantis and Trump were on the same page, she found herself also out of the Trump inner circle during his 2020 run. (Politico reported that the Trump campaign “cut ties” with Wiles in 2019.)
Trump’s and DeSantis’s paths soon diverged, with both men presumably positioning for the GOP presidential nomination (DeSantis has yet to announce). The split saw Wiles return to Trump’s team in an even larger role, advising his 2024 campaign nationally and reportedly serving as CEO of Trump’s Save America PAC.
Axios reports that Wiles and the rest of Trump 2024 are focused on “building ground operations in early primary states — and on having Trump attack Ron DeSantis before the Florida governor enters the race.”
Wiles’ previous work for DeSantis may be particularly helpful to Trump in the latter regard, as the longtime Florida Republican operative should bring insight into the Florida governor’s vulnerabilities. With her history, Wiles is an oppo research ace.
Backgrounder: Wiles is the daughter of the late Pat Summerall, who gained enduring fame as the main NFL broadcasting partner of legend John Madden, a position Summerall earned after playing a decade in the NFL. Wiles, 65, got her start in politics working for establishment Republican Congressman Jack Kemp, a teammate of her father on the New York Giants and later the HUD Secretary under George H. W. Bush.
Wiles, in other words, has had a front row seat — on occasion a driver’s seat — in the GOP’s transition from its OG conservative contingent embodied by the first George Bush and today by Mitt Romney to the MAGA-dominated party it is today, with DeSantis and Trump the leading attention GOP voices.
