On Friday, a biographer of President Donald Trump warned that commentators are misinterpreting reports that the president is considering replacing Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. According to Seth Abramson – who has written three bestselling books on Trump – the swap comes down to one thing: the president’s desire for a collaborator in his endeavor to “launch a civil war.”
Abramson was responding to rumors that Trump has asked his allies about replacing Wiles sometime after the midterms. Vying for the position, reportedly, are the likes of Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. According to the Washington Post, a Wiles supporter asserted that a GOP “blowout next month, very likely, will be a wedge that the ambitious use” to claim the chief of staff role. Another source described the last week at the White House as “the new Wild Wild West” as officials have wrangled for favor in the face of a likely post-midterm staff shakeup.
While such administration changes are common after elections, Abramson warns that Trump may have a different motive beyond merely rearranging the Titanic’s deck chairs. “My take on the supposedly sudden internal battle over the future of Susie Wiles: none of this is organic or tied to what reports are saying,” posted Abramson. “Trump knows he needs a chief of staff who will help him launch a civil war sometime post-midterms, and he believes Wiles isn’t that person. Wiles has run things better than Trump could ever have hoped for. Her skillset is known, understood, and essential. What her rumored replacements have in common is that they are men who are willing to betray their country for Trump. I don’t think it’s more complicated than that.”
This warning comes amid reports that the president’s allies are pushing him to declare martial law should the midterms not go his way. As Axios explains, “MAGA activists are pushing for President Trump to resort to extraordinary measures — including martial law — if they believe the midterm elections are ‘rigged.’” Some of the proposals are beyond Trump’s legal authority, and as Axios notes, there’s no evidence that the elections will be rigged in the first place. Nevertheless, prominent election denial activists have been pushing for Trump to seize control of elections, including his childhood friend, attorney Peter Ticktin, who asserted that “there would have to be martial law in the event… [of] another rigged election,” telling Axios, “They’ll probably need to be commandeering of ballots and election equipment to make sure that we can get to the bottom of it before anything further occurs.”
In Abramson’s estimation, Trump is looking for a chief of staff willing to push such efforts. Others have suggested that Wiles may be a scapegoat for the president to throw under the bus after the midterms. Trump reportedly “blew up” after his “human printer” Natalie Harp printed out copies of story on Wiles, spurring the president into a full-blown “freakout.” All of this comes as another longtime Trump ally has been fired from the administration, and amid reports of a “MAGA blood feud” rocking the White House.