“He understood it would terrify others.”
“He understood it would terrify others.”
Elon Musk, a wealthy individual who dismantled the federal workforce in the United States via the Department of Government Efficiency, is not held in high regard by the most powerful woman in D.C.: Susie Wiles, the White House Chief of Staff and the gatekeeper to President Donald Trump.
In a series of on-the-record discussions with Vanity Fair’s Chris Whipple conducted throughout the previous year, Wiles, who managed to bring some coherence and discipline to the infamously cutthroat Trump political team, characterized Musk as a “complete solo performer” who thrust the Trump administration into various unnecessary crises — notably the closure of USAID, the United States Agency for International Development, which Musk had terminated during his DOGE oversight.
“I was initially appalled,” Wiles informed Whipple. “Because I think anyone aware of government and who has ever acknowledged USAID recognized, as I did, that they perform very valuable work.” This week, The Center for Global Development released a report estimating that cuts to USAID humanitarian programs could lead to 500,000 to 700,000 deaths annually.
It speaks volumes about the tumultuous news landscape of 2025 that the DOGE saga was a mere footnote in the expansive, two-part feature that included interviews with Trump’s closest allies and live discussions during significant political upheavals like the disastrous release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. However, Wiles’s public evaluation of Musk represents how the administration recalls the Tesla billionaire’s influence — or potentially harm — on their political strategies:
In his executive order halting foreign aid, Trump had ordered that life-saving initiatives should be preserved. Instead, they were closed down. “When Elon declared, ‘We’re doing this,’ he was already committed,” Wiles stated. “And that’s likely because he realized it would be disturbing to others. But he concluded it was preferable to shut it down, dismiss everyone, exclude them, and then reconstruct. Not the manner I would choose.”
As per Wiles, the only quick solution was to integrate USAID into the State Department under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, yet even at that stage, Musk was obstructive:
Wiles mentions that she confronted Musk directly. “You can’t just lock people out of their offices,” she recalls advising him. Initially, Wiles didn’t understand the implications of cutting USAID initiatives on humanitarian support. “I lacked extensive knowledge about their grant distribution.” However, with immunizations paused in Africa, lives hung in the balance. Soon, she received urgent calls from heads of relief organizations and former officials delivering a critical message: Thousands of lives were at risk.
Wiles went on: “So Marco is on his way to Panama. We contact him and say, ‘You’re Senate-confirmed. You’ll have to be the custodian, in a sense, of [USAID].’ ‘Alright,’ he agrees.” But Musk continued on his path — full throttle, no brakes. “Elon’s mindset is you must act swiftly. If you’re an incrementalist, your rocket won’t reach the moon,” Wiles expressed. “And with that approach, you’re bound to shatter a few things. But no sane person could claim the USAID operations were effective. No one.”
It’s uncommon for a White House chief of staff to be this forthright and candid while serving the President, even with a journalist who has authored a book about past chiefs of staff. Yet regarding Musk, Wiles appeared ready to be transparent. “The challenge with Elon is keeping pace with him,” she conveyed to Whipple in an interview conducted while Musk was still active in the Trump administration. “He’s an open ketamine [user]. And he sleeps in a sleeping bag in the EOB [Executive Office Building] during the day. He’s a peculiar, peculiar individual, which I believe geniuses often are. You know, it’s not advantageous, but he is his own unique entity.”
Whipple later recounts: “When I asked her what her thoughts were on Musk resharing a tweet about public sector employees being responsible for millions of deaths under Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, her response was: ‘I suspect that’s during his microdosing phase.’ (She claims she doesn’t have direct experience.)”
