A commentary published on Econbrowser argues that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is likely to be the next senior official removed from President Donald Trump's administration, pointing to recent reporting on who could succeed her.

The post cites Newsweek's list of potential replacements if Trump ousts his chief of staff and The Independent's report on the possibility that Trump will fire his top White House aide.

The chief of staff is widely described as the most powerful unelected job in the West Wing: it centers on controlling access to the president, managing the flow of people and information, and refereeing among rival factions — the same gatekeeping function the commentary fears could degrade under a successor. Wiles has held the post since Trump's second term began in January 2025 and is the first woman to serve in the role. Neither cited report describes an announced decision; both frame the move as a possibility that would take effect only if Trump acts on it.

According to the commentary, Trump treats members of his staff as interchangeable apprentices and dismisses and attacks women far more frequently than men — a pattern the author believes Wiles is set to continue.

The author portrays Wiles as an exception within Trump's inner circle: sophisticated and capable, an experienced hand rather than a newcomer intoxicated by power. While the post contends that Trump's public approval rating is beyond rescuing, it warns that the day-to-day functioning of the White House — particularly the filtering-out of people carrying the weakest ideas — could worsen under a successor.

The author also offers a personal suspicion, explicitly acknowledged as "based on nothing," that Wiles undermined Katie Zacharia by sending her out without any preparation, viewing another unqualified spokesperson as something Wiles might want to scuttle as Trump enters the weakest stretch of his presidency, and concludes that "one way or another" Zacharia's implosion was Wiles's fault. The piece additionally references the on-again, off-again, televised killing of a paraplegic Muslim man, arguing that the episode lands at a moment when Trump appears desperate, and suggests Wiles may once again have been caught in the fallout.

According to the post, the Newsweek list of prospective successors offers a picture — one the author finds unappealing — of what Trump is seeking in the role:

• Stephen Miller — Currently a deputy chief of staff for policy in Trump's White House, and described as effective at converting hard-line thinking into policy. The author links the prospect of a Miller appointment to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) and argues that getting one's own way is not a quality that makes for a good gatekeeper.

• Randy Levine — Head of the New York Yankees and a major bundler of political contributions, a practice the author notes is illegal if done improperly. Levine was floated as a potential chief of staff during Trump's first term and is portrayed as oriented more toward politics and power than policy, but plainly adept at running organizations.

• Steve Witkoff — One of the administration's two roving envoys, formally the U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East. The post calls his performance a failure by any conventional definition, while noting that he has still obtained what Trump wants through deals whose inner workings cannot be observed, and that his skill set differs from that of a strong chief of staff even if he clearly puts Trump at ease.

• Bill Pulte — Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and, in the author's framing, a perpetual nominee to run any number of agencies. Described as a bully skilled at pursuing vengeance on Trump's behalf, with the author adding that many observers expect the final two years of Trump's term (the stretch following the 2026 midterm elections) to center on money and retribution — and that Wiles may not be sufficiently revenge-focused to suit the president.

• Kevin McCarthy — The former speaker of the House, who was removed from the job by his own party in 2023, a fate the author suggests may also await the current speaker. The post notes that McCarthy has run the House and knows both policy and politics, making him capable of running the White House, while allowing that it is hard to imagine he would want the post except as a final chance to exercise real power.