Stephen Miller replaces Susie Wiles as Trump's WH chief

Breaking news out of Washington today, President Trump has fired his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, saying she resigned and that Stephen Miller, his trusted aide, will take over the job of White House chief of staff. This comes after a brutal midterm elections for Republicans across the country. The president saying he believed this change was necessary, but not offering many more details. He announced it by tweet just a little while ago, or I should say by Truth Social Post, saying he's pleased to announce that Stephen Miller, the current... Deputy chief of staff will assume this new role. He called Stephen one of his most trusted advisors and saying that he'll begin in the new job on Monday, November 9th, adding that Susie Wiles has done a great job and will be moving over to the Trump political operation. We are watching right now as the president is set to depart. Joint Base Andrews at any moment and head here to Florida. He will be appearing in Cape Canaveral later today and it comes amid this very busy afternoon here across the country as Republicans begin to take stock of what happened in the midterm elections. I want to play for you what President Trump had to say just a moment ago as he left the White House. Let's listen. Stephen Miller will be the new chief of staff, and Susie's going to go over to the political operations. What do you want? What do you want Stephen Miller to do differently than Susie? Run things well. You said about a month ago that there was zero chance that the world was going to be replaced, but what changed, sir? I just wanted to know why you decided to make that decision. I just wanted to make a change. I think... The President's done a very good job, a great job. But I just wanted to make it seem it's been great. And we've got to make moves. Sometimes in life you have to make moves, yeah. Joining me now is Dalton Dismukes, a Republican strategist who is very familiar with the workings of the internal workings of the Republican Party and familiar with all the characters we're discussing here today. Dalton, thanks for your time. Your reaction to this change. I talked to several people today, several political analysts who joined us on our show now and then, who said that they expected some kind of change. They weren't sure what it would be. One of them did say that this was the change she had predicted. Is this surprising to you? And what does it mean for the Trump White House and the Republicans in his lame duck part of his second term? First, thanks for having me on, Jack. Thanks for having me, Jack. I think the person who was reassigned is surprising to me. It's not surprising that there are some changes that are being made. I think you will see some further changes I'm going to let the changes come down the line. But for him to reassign Susie Wiles, it did surprise me. It did surprise me considering, you know, the loss or the shift from 2024 to 2026, specifically among Latino voters. And, uh, and you know, And Stephen Miller having such a large impact on immigration enforcement and stuff like that. So it did surprise me. It did surprise me. Stephen Miller is a controversial figure. And I wonder what you make of the fact that his replacement for someone that was largely seen as a centrist, maybe not a centrist, but somebody who was. Well thought of throughout the Republican Party, not just in the MAGA base was his chief of staff, thought to sort of be the glue in this Trump White House in the second term. Here, Stephen Miller comes in, someone who is incredibly controversial, has sort of been the architect of some of the most controversial policies this second Trump administration has implemented, namely immigration enforcement. After the blue wave, after what voters said across this country on Tuesday night. What kind of a statement do you think this is about what to expect from the final two years of this Trump term? That's a great question. I. I would expect some doubling down. I think that the election, when you look at what happened on Tuesday, which was an absolute bloodbath for Republicans across the country. It wasn't a bloodbath for conservatism, if you look at it that way, but it was a bloodbath for Republicans. It appears that there's gonna be some doubling down, partially potentially Are you potentially on immigration enforcement? But it also signals maybe some more domestic policy focus rather than foreign policy focus, which the first half of this second term for Trump has largely been foreign policy focus. So Stephen Miller being extremely focused on domestic security, domestic policy, I think that is a shift that I would expect to see. I want to show a live picture now from Joint Base Andrews. President Trump and Marine One just landing at Joint Base Andrews. The cameras just panned away from the Air Force One plane as it shoots what appears to be a second Marine One helicopter landing. Of course, Marine One, the name of the helicopter when the president is on board, they often fly to one of them designed to be a decoy. So here comes the helicopter presumably carrying the president landing. At Joint Base Andrews, the president is heading to Cape Canaveral, Florida in just a few minutes for an appearance here in Central Florida. We'll see if he speaks to reporters again in just a minute. Dalton, you called it a bloodbath, what happened on Tuesday. I'm curious what Republicans that you talk to. You run a lot of campaigns. You talk to a lot of people. Before we get back into Susie Wiles and the intricacies of this decision today, what did you make and what did your colleagues across the country Make of the choices voters made. What do you think it says about the electorate in this country in so many districts, including many here in Florida that went far to the left compared to where they were just two years ago? Yeah, that's a great question. I think that voters just revolted. They were promised cheaper gas. They were promised no more foreign wars. They were, you know, they were promised a lot and to, you know. Those things take time to happen to bring prices down on gas to lower inflation. At the moment, I don't think I'm going to be able to get to that point. But it's not a revolt because those things took too long to happen. But I'm going to have to keep my, while you're working on the presentation, but I'm just going to be very moving in terms of our conversation. All right. It's because those things Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me, with pleasure. not only didn't happen, the opposite happened. Thank you very much. All right, we're going to hang on. We're going to have a couple more questions. Gas went up, inflation has gone up and down. We'll see you in the next session. See you later. Bye-bye. You know, Bye-bye. Everything costs more. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. A new war, a new foreign war did happen. So I mean, it was Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Again, I don't believe that it was a repudiation Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. of what the Republican Party is or what the Bye-bye. Democrat Party is. I think it was kind of a revolt of what we've seen happen in the past two years. I want to share some of the coalescence around this decision today. Former White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt sharing in a tweet that Susie Wiles is one of the kindest and toughest people I've ever met, she writes, saying she helped power the greatest political comeback in American history in 2024. And as a first woman to serve as the White House chief of staff, she led the most productive start to a presidency in decades. She goes on to praise Stephen Miller Miller is a dear friend in this new role. I'm curious, Dalton, folks here in Florida may not be familiar with the history or may not remember it right away that Susie Wiles worked for Governor DeSantis in his political operation before they famously, I think, had a falling out and don't have as great of a relationship anymore. Do you do you think this is something that was a mutual decision or is any decision really amicable when it comes to Donald Trump? Well, I think one thing to keep in mind is that Tuesday was the midterms. Wednesday started the race for 2028, right? And Susie Wiles is, I mean, I would venture to say the most brilliant political strategist in America right now, by far. Wow. She is the most talented Republican strategist I have ever met. She probably doesn't remember, but I was fortunate enough to have met her a few times and even worked with her just a little bit. But Susie Wiles is brilliant. So it doesn't necessarily surprise me that she is staying on. She is transitioning to just a different role away from chief of staff onto the political team. And they have a brilliant political team there at the White House. You can. Dislike Trump or whatever, they have a brilliant political team there, just as Obama did. Obama had a brilliant political team. So it is exciting, though, for somebody like me to see Susie getting away from the more day-to-day business and back into the thing that I believe she truly is the best at. I do think it was a mutual decision, though, and I hope to see her back in the game. Do you think in terms of staff shakeups, uh, did we see more changes at this point? Is there, I wonder, I guess I question what you think about the president's interest in what happens in 2028. It would almost seem he doesn't have much interest in what happens. He's more concerned in what he can do in his last two years in office. Do you expect Donald Trump? To be someone who is involved in picking a successor to the MAGA movement, to the Republican Party, and eventually play a role in selecting the party's nominee? Or is there something to be said for moving on from Trump and Trumpism, given Tuesday's results and his lame duck status? Yeah, that's a great question. You know, the hard things about midterms when you're a part of a party that, you know, You know, catastrophically fails, which is what happened on Tuesday. Is that people usually take their filters off and they do tell you what they truly believe. I've seen a lot of commentators and pundits say that the MAGA movement is dead. I don't believe that that is true. I do think he'll have influence over 2028. Whether that influence Thank You know how far it goes. I'm not sure. I think that's something we'll have to see. I think a lot of that will be determined by what the state of affairs are when the caucuses and the primaries come through next year. When you think about what voters said on Tuesday night, you. I know, and we should note, and we will listen to see if the president shouts anything here, says anything here as he gets off of Marine One at Joint Base Andrews and gets on to Air Force One in a moment. Sometimes he'll talk to reporters again. He just spoke very briefly, and I should say more briefly than usual, for this Friday afternoon. He does tend to take his time in speaking with the press pool gathered outside on the White House South Lawn. When he leaves today, He stayed there maybe two minutes, answered two questions, and then walked. He walked away. It would seem to me he is not keen on speaking on this decision that he made today to make a major change in firing or overseeing the resignation of Susie Wiles as she moves out of her role as chief of staff in the White House to Trump's political operation. And we'll watch and listen here to see if the president walks over to the cameras to say anything else about this, although it does appear to be a rainy day in. Maryland at Joint Base Andrews, the president getting on the plane there. Dalton, I'm curious what candidates in Alabama, where you mostly work, I know you work on campaigns across the country, what you think of how voters perceive the Republican Party at this point. Do you think that Democrats will be able to take advantage of this mandate they've been given? Do you think they've been given a mandate? I guess just your assessment of the landscape here with the caveat that we may have to stop for a moment and listen to President Trump here. Yeah, it's hard to say that the Democrats weren't given a mandate when- Let's listen quickly, Dalton. I think he is gonna speak for one moment here. The numbers today are unbelievable for employment, for unemployment numbers. 165,000, far and cheap, anything ever even thought about. And that was great, thank you. Thank you. That's it. Once again, the president's not keen on speaking today as he boards Air Force One. Kind of rare that we don't get a comment out of Donald Trump, but today he does not want to talk about it. Same question that we were speaking of a minute ago. What do you think voters said on Tuesday, both in red states and blue states alike, Dalton? Yeah, I think they somewhat said the opposite, based on whether it was a red state or a blue state. As you said, I live in Alabama, I do a lot of work in Alabama, but I'm fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work all around the country. It's hard to say the Democrats don't Don't have a mandate when. Polling now shows that they are plus five when it comes to trust on the economy. They're above when it comes to trust on education. Thank you very much for your participation. I believe the only thing they're lagging behind on is public safety. Thank you. They're fairly close even now on immigration. I believe that you have almost a majority of voters saying that ICE has gone too far. So, I mean, it's hard to say that they don't have a mandate when they're close to 255 seats in the House now and in the Senate. I mean, look, when a Democrat wins a US Senate seat in Mississippi, who hasn't elected a Democrat, I mean, in decades, just years after World War II, it's hard to say they don't have a mandate, right? How do they use that? That's a great question. I don't know the answer to that. that, um, Do Republicans overcorrect? I don't think we know the answer to that either. But those are things that we're gonna have to look at over the next two years. Last question before we let you go here, Dalton. I'm curious if you think that the Trump White House is listening to the things that you just said, to the sentiment of voters that voted maybe against them, especially those that swung away from the GOP this cycle. You mentioned this as a doubling down by putting someone as controversial as Stephen Miller in this position, this crucial position, arguably the most important job. In Washington, do you think that this is a sign that they are hearing what voters said and hearing, in many cases, the repudiation of some of these policies? Or is this doubling down a sign that President Trump does what he wants pretty much regardless? Great question, Jack. Thank you, Jack. On election night, or maybe it was the day after election day, you saw President Trump come out and say that he wants to be able to work with the Democrats on things. He doesn't wanna have to be the no president or the veto president. I think there's some mixed messaging going on there. I think there's some mixed signals. I think they were in process of even Susie's position and Stephen Miller ascending. Um, I don't know that we know the answer to that. And I don't know that we'll know the answer to that until the new year. It'd be interesting. We appreciate it. Dalton Dismukes, a Republican strategist from our mutual home state of Alabama. Dalton, uh, anything else you want to add? Roll tide. Roll tide. That's something we should all agree on. I think Dalton, I appreciate your time today. Thank you so much.