Trump makes history by hiring Wiles. What do haters say now?

by Junna Base November 8, 2024

Donald Trump won the presidency thanks in part to the support of strong, intelligent women. He just hired one of them to be his White House chief of staff.

Before the election, billionaire businessman Mark Cuban claimed on “The View” that former President Donald Trump avoided strong women and that he found them “intimidating.” “Donald Trump, you never see him around strong, intelligent women,” Cuban said. “It’s that simple.”

Now that Trump has won the presidency again (thanks in part to strong women supporting him – more on that shortly), he is proving how false that accusation was.

Trump promotes the first woman as White House chief of staff

One of Trump’s first acts as president-elect on Thursday was to name his campaign co-manager Susie Wiles as his chief of staff.

Wiles will be the first woman to hold this crucial and influential role.

“Susie is tough, smart, innovative and widely admired and respected,” Trump said in a statement. “Susie will continue to work tirelessly to Make America Great Again.”

Apparently Trump isn’t afraid of these qualities after all.

Trump chooses the people best suited for the job, not based on their gender

During his campaign, Trump did not promise to appoint anyone to his administration based on their gender. That makes this appointment all the more meaningful.

Trump chose Wiles because he believed she was the best person for the job. Period.

Wiles, a longtime political activist, played an important role in his previous presidential campaigns and he has great confidence in her talents.

As Trump said when announcing her new role, she “just helped me win one of the greatest political victories in American history.”

In contrast, President Joe Biden chose women because he promised.

During his 2020 campaign, Biden vowed that he would choose a woman as vice president. And when it came time to appoint a justice to the Supreme Court, he said it would be a “black woman.”

I found this strategy demeaning and it diminished the honor of the women who ultimately got these jobs.

How about you just choose the best candidate for the job – and if that person happens to be a woman, great.

That’s Trump’s approach.

Many smart, strong women support Trump

Going back to Cuba’s insults about not having strong women associated with Trump, here’s more proof that he’s wrong.

Let’s start with Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and United Nations ambassador under Trump. Cuban’s comments on “The View” referred to what he believed was Trump’s fear of using Haley on the campaign trail.

But Haley, who was Trump’s fiercest opponent in the Republican primaries, has herself said several times that she would support Trump first over Biden and then over Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump invited Haley to speak at the Republican National Convention in July, and she graciously accepted the invitation, even though the two certainly exchanged words during the primary.

Then, just days before the election, Haley wrote an editorial in the Wall Street Journal in which she came out in support of Trump.

“I don’t always agree with Mr. Trump 100%,” she wrote. “But I mostly agree with him and almost always disagree with Ms. Harris. That makes this call easy. Here are the facts that are most relevant to me.”

Haley was able to put emotions and personal jibes aside and make the decision she believed was best for the country.

Sounds like a strong woman to me.

And then there’s Megyn Kelly, one of the best (and most successful) independent media voices around.

She and Trump have had heated public disagreements in the past, but Kelly supported Trump at one of his recent rallies — and he invited her to the stage.

Kelly intelligently and directly explained why she supported him.

And she began with this: “I really enjoy the feeling of proving Mark Cuban wrong, and that’s why I’m here at a Trump rally – a strong, intelligent woman – to prove Mark Cuban wrong.”

It wasn’t just well-known women who supported Trump. Despite the much-discussed gender gap, 46% of female voters supported the Republican candidate – meaning there are tens of millions of women nationwide. Even Cubans might consider at least some of them strong and intelligent.

Liberal women are speaking out on social media about what a Trump presidency means for their lives. If he was as misogynistic as they believe, there is no way women I respect like Haley and Kelly would lend their support.

Trump’s choice of Wiles as his closest adviser also speaks volumes.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist for USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques.

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