Stephen Miller takes over as White House Chief of Staff on Monday, replacing Susie Wiles in the most significant reshuffle of Donald Trump’s second term. Mr Trump announced the change on Friday, saying Mr Miller, his deputy chief of staff and one of his most trusted advisers, would assume the post from November 9.
Ms Wiles, who has led the White House staff since the start of the second term in January 2025, will move over to the Trump political operation, Mr Trump said, thanking her for her service. Her departure follows her resignation on Thursday night, and it comes just days after the midterm elections in which the Democrats took back both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Mr Miller has been a central figure in the administration as deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser, and he has been the driving force behind the President’s immigration agenda, including the push for mass deportations. His elevation to the top staff job puts the administration’s most hardline voice at the centre of its daily operations.
The chief of staff is the most powerful unelected job in American government, controlling access to the President, managing the flow of decisions through the White House and keeping the cabinet and the staff in line. Mr Miller’s appointment signals that Mr Trump wants a chief of staff who shares his instincts and will drive his agenda without the friction that has marked previous White Houses.
The choice has already drawn criticism. Republican Representative Marlin Stutzman of Indiana said on Sunday that the President had made a bad mistake in elevating Mr Miller, arguing on CNN that the move would deepen the administration’s problems after the heavy midterm losses. The criticism from within the President’s own party is unusual, and it underlines how divisive the appointment is even among Republicans.
For Mr Miller, the new job is the culmination of a decade at Mr Trump’s side, from the 2016 campaign to the heart of two administrations. He has been with the President from the beginning, as Mr Trump himself put it, and the President’s trust in him is total. What remains to be seen is whether a chief of staff known for ideology and combat can also manage the sprawling machinery of the White House — and whether the midterm defeat will push the administration towards a course correction or a doubling down.
Mr Miller takes the chair on Monday morning. The first test of his tenure will be how the White House handles a Congress now controlled by the opposition, and a country that has just delivered the President a sharp rebuke at the ballot box.
