Top Trump aide says he has 'alcoholic's personality'; US President responds

In a Vanity Fair interview, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles suggested that Elon Musk is a 'drug user', and called US Vice President Vance a 'conspiracy theorist'

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is making headlines over her interview with Vanity Fair, where she made some stark comments about US President Donald Trump and top officials from his administration. While Wiles is being trolled by the MAGA brigade for her remarks, Trump stood by his chief of staff, saying the interview was a bid to cause fissures in his administration.

 

In the interview, Wiles described Trump as having an "alcoholic's personality" and Vice President Vance as a "conspiracy theorist" for a decade. She even accused former Trump aide and Tesla CEO Elon Musk of being a drug user, calling him an "avowed ketamine" user.

 

However, after the two-part article went viral, Wiles disputed some comments. In an X post, Wiles said the article is a "disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history".

 

Here's what Wiles said in the interview, what she said after, and how Trump reacted to her comments.

'Trump has an alcoholic’s personality'

While discussing her relationship with her father Pat Summerall, who was an alcoholic, Wiles said, "high-functioning alcoholics or alcoholics in general, their personalities are exaggerated when they drink. And so I’m a little bit of an expert in big personalities".

 

She added that Trump has "an alcoholic’s personality". However, she went on to praise him, stating that he “operates [with] a view that there’s nothing he can’t do".

 

"Nothing, zero, nothing,” she said.  ALSO READ | Musk's worth soars past $600 bn; richer than Bezos, Zuckerberg combined

'Vance a conspiracy theorist'

Discussing Trump's unsubstantiated claim of former US president Bill Clinton's mention in Epstein files, Wiles said, "The people that really appreciated what a big deal this is are Kash [Patel] and [FBI deputy director] Dan Bongino. Because they lived in that world. And the vice president, who’s been a conspiracy theorist for a decade… For years, Kash has been saying, ‘Got to release the files, got to release the files.’ And he’s been saying that with a view of what he thought was in these files that turns out not to be right.”  

 

Wiles also suggested that JD Vance’s shift from being a Trump critic to a strong supporter was driven more by political calculation than by conviction. The conversion was “sort of political", Wiles said.

'Elon Musk a complete solo actor, ketamine user'

In the interview, Wiles called Elon Musk "a complete solo actor" and described him as something akin to a "jacked-up Nosferatu".

 

“The challenge with Elon is keeping up with him,” she said. “He’s an avowed ketamine [user]. And he sleeps in a sleeping bag in the EOB [Executive Office Building] in the daytime. And he’s an odd duck, as I think geniuses are. It’s not helpful, but he is his own person.”

 

However, she criticised Musk for cutting USAID funding. “I was initially aghast... Because I think anybody who pays attention to government and has ever paid attention to USAID believes that they do very good work," she said.

Wiles backtracks on some comments

Clarifying her comments featured in the interview, Wiles claimed that significant context was missing in the Vanity Fair story and much of what she said about Trump was left out.

 

"I assume, after reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team," she said.

 

Wiles claimed that the White House under Trump has "already accomplished more in 11 months than any other President has accomplished in eight years". She credited it to Trump's "unmatched leadership and vision".

Trump comes to Wiles' defence

Trump, in an interview with the New York Post, defended Wiles. "No, she meant that I’m — you see, I don’t drink alcohol. So everybody knows that — but I’ve often said that if I did, I’d have a very good chance of being an alcoholic. I have said that many times about myself, I do. It’s a very possessive personality," he said.

 

"I’m fortunate I’m not a drinker. If I did, I could very well, because I’ve said that — what’s the word? Not possessive — possessive and addictive type personality. Oh, I’ve said it many times, many times before,” he added.

 

Commenting on the coverage, Trump said Wiles was "deceived". "Yeah, deceived — and he (interviewer) didn’t have great access, a couple of very short interviews. And Susie generally doesn’t do interviews... If anybody knows the interviewer, and if they know Vanity Fair, Vanity Fair is a totally — it’s lost its way. It’s also lost its readers, as you know. No, she’s fantastic," Trump said.

 

Even Vance backed Wiles' comments, saying, "Sometimes I am a conspiracy theorist... But I only believe in the conspiracy theories that are true — and by the way, Susie and I have joked in private and in public about that for a long time.”

 

"I believed in the crazy conspiracy theory back in 2020 that it was stupid to mask 3-year-olds at the height of the Covid pandemic and that we should actually let them develop some language skills," he said.

 

Musk has not publicly made any statement about Wiles' comments.