🗓️ WATCH LIVE TODAY: Join Swin and Prem at noon ET (9am PT) for a live conversation about their deeply reported series, the ‘Four Horsemen of the Trump-ocalypse,’ which profiles the officials behind some of the worst damage the Trump administration has inflicted on the U.S. and the world. You can read Part 1 (Stephen Miller), Part 2 (Marco Rubio), and Part 3 (Pete Hegseth) now. Part 4 will be out later today!
Good morning, and welcome to the end of the week. Swin here, working the Trumpworld sources once again to bring you all the news that matters.
In today’s ‘First Draft,’ we can confirm that yes, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles really is in trouble amid President Donald Trump’s tanking polls and with midterms disaster looming on the horizon.
We’ll also take a look at the latest developments in the appalling immigration investigation of Rep. Ilhan Omar, as the White House abandons all norms in its quest for retribution. There’s a lot more news too. In we go.
The ‘Ice Maiden’ Melteth
“She’s in some deep shit,” a top Donald Trump adviser frankly informs Zeteo, referring to the U.S. president’s White House chief of staff and 2024 campaign co-chief, Susie Wiles.
Talk to people in and out of government who are very close to Trump, and it won’t take long for you to hear that despite the president’s public bravado and projections of confidence, he knows how spectacularly in-the-toilet his poll numbers are, at this midway point of his violently authoritarian second term.
He’s looking for people to blame, because he doesn’t want to look in the mirror in his disgusting-carpeted bathroom and blame the one man most responsible for his failures and humiliations. The 2026 midterms are around the corner, and if the polls are right, the American people are on track to deliver a mammoth repudiation.
On Thursday morning, Politico reported that Trump has been actively weighing dumping Wiles as the midterms near and as he and his party hunt for scapegoats. If disaster strikes the GOP in November, expect a ton of backbiting and anonymous score-settling in the media. For instance, we keep hearing about how numerous Republican operatives, Trumpworld figures, and conservatives on Capitol Hill absolutely despise the notably smug James Blair, a former deputy chief of staff who now has the likely impossible task of somehow salvaging the midterms for Trump, and wouldn’t mind cynically shoveling blame on him for the heavy losses, should they occur in the House and Senate.
When it comes to Wiles, Trump and his White House tried to pour cold water on the Politico story, releasing effusively supportive statements, the president accusing the outlet of – what else? – “TOTAL FAKE NEWS.”
“Politico doesn’t care about facts, integrity, or honest journalism,” Trump bleated. “It’s why I kicked them out of the White House! [Before a judge ordered they and CNN and MS NOW be let back in.] Susie Wiles is my loyal and longest serving Chief of Staff – there is a reason for that. She has been with me since the beginning, is my trusted advisor, and has my COMPLETE confidence.”
I can confirm Politico had it right.