Trump abruptly replaces White House chief of staff, taps hard-liner Miller

[Financial News] President Donald Trump replaced his White House chief of staff three days after Republicans lost the midterm elections. He tapped his close ally, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, 41, who has led hard-line immigration policies, as the new chief of staff. Attention is now focused on whether the appointment will be followed by a personnel shake-up across the White House and the wider administration.
On the 6th (local time), President Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social that he was appointing Deputy Chief of Staff Miller as the new White House chief of staff. Miller will officially begin his duties on the 9th.
Trump described Miller as one of the aides he trusts most. He thanked outgoing chief of staff Susie Wiles for her dedication and said she would move to Trump Political Operation. He did not disclose the organization’s specific nature or what position Wiles would take.
Miller said on X (formerly Twitter) that he was honored to have been appointed chief of staff. Wiles, too, described her experience assisting President Trump at the White House as a lifelong honor, saying, “My role may change, but my commitment to the president and the mission will never change.”
The appointment came immediately after Republicans ceded their majorities in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to Democrats in the midterm elections held on the 3rd. Speaking to reporters at the White House that day, President Trump spoke positively about Wiles’s performance but said he wanted change, suggesting that the election results had influenced his personnel decision.
Wiles served as chair of President Trump’s campaign in the 2024 U.S. presidential election and contributed to his victory. The first woman to serve as White House chief of staff, she has overseen White House operations since the start of the second Trump administration.
However, there has been speculation recently that the relationship between President Trump and Wiles is no longer what it once was. The New York Times (NYT), citing people familiar with the White House, reported that Trump had at times excluded Wiles from major personnel decisions.
In particular, Trump reportedly proceeded with the selection of a successor to former White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt without consulting Wiles. He also reportedly reprimanded Wiles in front of other aides over a matter he had already approved.
After the midterm elections, Trump reportedly voiced his dissatisfaction with Wiles and his political aides to some of his close associates. Wiles’s allies countered that he was trying to shift the blame for the failure of the election strategy, which Trump had led, onto Wiles, the NYT reported.
Miller, selected as Wiles’s successor, is one of the leading hard-liners in the Trump administration. Born in 1985, he has been with Trump since his first presidential bid in 2015 and served as a senior policy adviser at the White House during the first administration. He also played a key role in drafting Trump’s first inaugural address.
In the second administration, Miller has served as deputy chief of staff for policy and pursued hard-line immigration policies, including the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. He has recently expanded his influence beyond immigration to domestic policy as a whole and taken an active stance on expanding the president’s executive authority, CNN reported.
Miller’s appointment has prompted speculation that the Trump administration’s policy stance could become even tougher. The U.S. online outlet Axios noted that Miller favors hard-line responses not only on immigration but also in the war with Iran, and said the appointment could alter the administration’s direction going forward.
In a separate statement, the White House said Miller had played a key role in the administration’s major policy achievements, including reducing crime, strengthening border controls and stamping out large-scale fraud. It also highlighted support for the appointment by citing welcoming remarks from around 50 people, including Vice President JD Vance and Republican members of the U.S. Senate and House.
Democrats, however, objected to Miller’s record of hard-line immigration policies. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries criticized him as a “dangerous xenophobe,” while Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called him “the architect of the most barbaric and inhumane policies.”
With Trump choosing to replace the White House chief of staff as his first personnel move after the midterm defeat, attention is focused on whether he will pursue further shake-ups among Cabinet members and White House staff.

[email protected] Kim Ye-ji Reporter