On December 16, Vanity Fair published the first part of journalist Chris Whipple's interview with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Whipple's reporting is still generating a lot of discussion. One of New York Times opinion columnist Frank Bruni's takeaways from the interview is that Whipple highlighted the thirst for "power" that is motivating Donald Trump's allies during his second presidency.

In his December 22 column, Bruni makes a clear distinction between "seasoned political pro" Wiles and Trump Administration officials who lack "credentials" but were confirmed by the U.S. Senate's GOP majority anyway.

"The first year of Trump's return to the White House has shown or reminded us of many things, including the fragility of democracy, the prevalence of cowardice and the intensity of tribalism," Bruni argues. "But it has been an especially stark and galling education in the intoxication of power. And Wiles is a more illuminating entry on that syllabus than other senior administration officials, who wear their vainglory so conspicuously it might as well be a sandwich board spelling out their attachment to their entourages, to their letterheads, to the pomp and the perks. Many of them — Pete Hegseth, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Kash Patel — lack the credentials to be given anything remotely resembling such high-ranking jobs by anyone other than a destructionist like Trump, and they're surely too thrilled by their outrageous fortune to gaze skeptically at any uncomely aspect of it."

The Times columnist continues, "Besides which, those three, along with other presidential aides and advisers, are as rapacious, reckless and altogether rotten as Trump. But Wiles is different. She's a seasoned political pro who has often, relative to others in her line of work, kept to the background…. But when Trump beckoned her to join him as he returned to the White House, she came."

Bruni stresses that while Wiles avoids the performative theatrics of others in the Trump Administration, the thing that ties them together is their lust for "power."

"Wiles is certainly no Hegseth, showily doing push-ups with the troops; no Patel, with his premature expectorations; no Kristi Noem, zipping down to El Salvador for a macabre photo-op," Bruni observes. "But she's also human, with an itch to make sure that her presence and her sway at the pinnacle of power don't go unnoticed, unrecorded, underappreciated. Even someone like Wiles savors the air up there. Even if it's toxic with conspiracy theories and zealotry."

Frank Bruni's full New York Times column is available at this link (subscription required).

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