Trump names Stephen Miller his new chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles

President Donald Trump has turned to MAGA favorite Stephen Miller to lead the White House after Republicans got trounced in Tuesday’s midterm elections, losing both chambers of Congress by wide margins. Trump announced the change at the top on Truth Social Friday afternoon, with Miller, his deputy chief of staff, taking over chief of staff duties from Susie Wiles on Monday. Wiles submitted her resignation Thursday night, according to a White House official. The shift from Wiles, a longtime establishment figure in Florida and national political circles, to Miller, the hard-charging architect of the president’s mass-deportation campaign, sends a signal to a fractured Republican Party that Trump intends to strengthen ties to the MAGA base in his final two years in office. It also portends an even more contentious relationship with Democrats in Congress, who have demonized Miller for years. “Miller knows the key issues and is a true believer — and he knows the ecosystem around the issues,” said Steve Bannon, a former senior Trump aide and host of “The War Room” podcast. “Stephen gets parachuted in and takes immediate control.” On a recent phone call with an ally, Trump praised Miller as an aide who gets things done and doesn’t just tell him what he wants to hear. The ally said that Miller will be combative with Congress, particularly when it comes to any investigations Democrats point toward the administration. “When the president says, ‘Do this,’ Stephen will do it, and he’ll leave bodies behind doing it,” the ally said. Miller did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how his promotion would change the operation and direction of the White House. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who is widely expected to become speaker in January, called for Miller to be fired, not promoted. “Stephen Miller is a dangerous xenophobe and reckless extremist who has American blood on his hands,” Jeffries wrote on X. “His presence in government should be eradicated like a malignant tumor. Fire him today.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the news showed that Trump “learned nothing from his historic defeat.” “Stephen Miller is the architect of the most barbaric, inhumane policies of this administration. Trump couldn’t have made a worse choice,” he wrote on X. “Our Democratic majorities will fight him every step of the way.” Miller, who worked as a senior aide on Trump’s first campaign and has been with him ever since, is known within the White House as the ultimate loyalist to the president and a harsh taskmaster to underlings. In May 2025, for example, Miller berated and threatened to fire Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials over what he viewed as paltry numbers of arrests and deportations of undocumented immigrants. He demanded that they figure out how to detain 3,000 people per day. A familiar presence in right-wing media as an ardent advocate for the hard-line immigration policies he developed for Trump, Miller lowered his public profile after federal agents killed American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January. In the immediate aftermath of Pretti’s shooting, while facts were still being gathered, Miller erroneously tweeted that Pretti was a “domestic terrorist” who tried “to assassinate federal law enforcement.” He later said that the White House had received bad information from Customs and Border Protection. The decision to hand the White House keys to a hard-nosed MAGA warrior comes just three days after voters soundly rejected a Trump second-term record that centered on base-minded policies, from tariffs and deportations to slashing government programs. Most midterm voters said Trump’s immigration enforcement actions have gone too far, according to initial results from the NBC News Exit Poll. That was the view of 57% of voters, while 23% said they have been about right and 21% said they have not gone far enough. While Democrats were energized and independents shifted away from Republicans, many GOP voters stayed home Tuesday. The move to Miller fits with Trump’s general mien of indifference to the anger of voters. He spent Election Day and the day after talking about pet renovation projects that are peripheral to the affordability concerns voters said they want addressed. The decision appeared to be made quickly. In mid-October, Trump told NBC News that Wiles would “be there until the end,” following speculation that the president might be considering a replacement. Wiles, a 69-year-old cancer survivor, has been in the job longer than any of the other four chiefs of staff who served in Trump’s first term. Trump said Friday Wiles has “done an outstanding job” and “will be moving over to the Trump Political Operation. I want to thank her for her service as Chief of Staff — She has done a great job!” Moments later, Wiles wrote in a post on X that Friday would be her last day as chief of staff. “Serving President Trump in the White House has been the honor of a lifetime. I’m so proud to have been a part of what we’ve accomplished together from securing our border and cutting taxes to strengthening our economy and putting America First,” she wrote. “While my role may be changing, my commitment to the President and the mission never will.” For some, the switch could be understood as a natural byproduct of the midterm results. “The president loves her and I think he really did mean what he said about wanting her to stay, but there are those in his base who don’t trust her, don’t think she is part of the MAGA movement and are going to blame her for the midterms,” said one former Trump administration official. “This was a nod to those people in a moment when he will need his remaining political base intense as Democrats start coming for everyone.” Or, as a person close to the White House put it, “It definitely sends the right message to the base.” Miller, who served as an aide to conservative Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and in other roles on Capitol Hill before joining Trump’s 2016 campaign, spent years accumulating influence with the president. In early 2025, an ally described him as “untouchable” in the White House. He understands and executes on Trump’s vision, and he has demonstrated an absolutist version of loyalty to the man and his agenda, people familiar with their relationship say. Mark Bednar, a Republican strategist who worked in Congress when Miller was an aide there, said the choice will serve Trump well. “Even since his days on Capitol Hill, Stephen has been a both long-view strategist and also a tireless, meticulous tactician,” Bednar said. “When you combine that skill-set with his understanding of President Trump’s policy goals, that is an incredible combination for a chief of staff. He will serve well in this role for President Trump.”