Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the preparations, personnel decisions and policy deliberations of Donald Trump’s transition. POLITICO Pro subscribers receive a version of this newsletter first. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren | Email Lisa | Email Megan PROGRAMMING NOTE: We’ll be off for the holidays starting tomorrow (Merry Christmas!) but back in your inboxes on Thursday, Jan. 2. If there’s one person giving Washington hope for a more structured White House in DONALD TRUMP’s second term, it's his chief of staff, SUSIE WILES. Wiles is the steady hand credited with the discipline of Trump’s 2024 campaign operation, with a reputation among Democrats and Republicans alike for running a tight ship. She’s a longtime Florida political operative who commands respect. And, importantly, she has Trump’s ear — and he listens. ANDREW CARD, who served as GEORGE W. BUSH’s first chief of staff, told West Wing Playbook that his advice for Wiles was to have the courage to continue to “speak truth to power.” He said candor is an important part of the job, as well as defending people who are being ignored in important debates. Card, along with three other White House chiefs of staff who took office at the start of a new administration — JOHN H. SUNUNU, with GEORGE H.W. BUSH; MACK McLARTY, with BILL CLINTON; and RON KLAIN, with JOE BIDEN — spoke with us about what the job was like and what advice they would give to Wiles, who will also make history on Jan. 20 when she becomes the first female chief of staff. (The second half of this conversation will run when we return in the new year.) The conversations have been edited for length and clarity. What do you wish you knew on your first day in the White House? Card: The first responsibility of a chief of staff, [as Harvard professor Roger B. Porter] described, I think, quite accurately, is the care and feeding of the president. Most people don’t think about that, but the president should be in a position to make a decision at any time on any day — day or night — and that means you’ve got to pay attention to his physical well-being, his mental well-being, his emotional well-being, his spiritual well-being, and the aggravations or frustrations — if the phones don’t work, or the motorcade isn’t in the right spot, or his luggage gets lost on Air Force One or whatever. The second part of the job is really policy formulation, and that is really managing the personalities around the president. The president should always be hiring the best and the brightest and the reality is they all think they’re the best and the brightest. You only have four years in your term, so you have to make sure the president is not wasting time with trivial matters. That’s a difficult balance. You don’t want people wasting the president’s time but you also want to give the president a chance to have some joyous experiences, have good times. McLarty: I wish I would have known the people I was working with better, because I was not a part of the 1992 Clinton/Gore campaign. I knew the Congress well, the president well and the agenda well, but I did not know some of the people in the White House and Cabinet as well as I would have liked. That’s a real advantage Susie Wiles will have. Sununu: How self important all the long-time Washington crowd thought they were and how unconnected they were to the rest of the country. How did you, as chief of staff, handle the pressure of the first 100 days? Card: I worked with the communications team and the legislative team to make sure we all understood what were our goals in the first 100 days, and how do you manage expectations of the president, manage expectations of Congress, manage expectations of the American people. It's No. 1, having the discipline to say we should have a plan for what we're doing. We should have a roadmap, and people should respect the roadmap, and you want as many people involved in creating the roadmap so they are invested in it, rather than have the roadmap being dumped on their desk. Sununu: Pressure is always minimized by good communication among all the pieces of the White House and especially while everyone is getting used to working together and in their new roles. It is always important to take success as soon as you can. McLarty: It’s a pressure cooker for sure. It was a 24/7 job even before “Al Gore invented the Internet” as I sometimes like to kid, not to mention social media. The issues are so much broader than in the private sector, where I have spent the majority of my career. You also have to keep your perspective and humanity and try to remember former University of Arkansas/University of Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz's advice that, “Things are never as good or as bad as you think they are at the time.” And usually, you take comfort and encouragement from your colleagues (who are, on balance, outstanding, good people). Americans generally have a better feeling about the presidency if you can get things done on a bipartisan basis, whenever possible (think principled compromise), whether you have a divided Congress or have majorities in the House and Senate like President Trump will have. If you have to draw a line and can’t reach agreement, try to move forward in a way that won’t hinder future efforts requiring bipartisan support. I would often remind myself of the old political saying, “Your opponent today may be the friend you need tomorrow.” What’s one piece of advice you’d give to incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles? Card: This is awkward — and I feel a little uncomfortable saying it — but have the courage to speak truth to power. Your life cadence has to be the president's life cadence. You can't expect to change the president's cadence of life. And so I would say candor, and really the courage to speak truth to power — or defend others when they are being ignored in the debate, when they're competent to be part of it. Klain: Centrifugal force is the biggest challenge to any chief of staff — keeping the team focused on the main event is the top priority. McLarty: I am a firm believer that a former chief of staff shouldn’t give advice to an incoming chief of staff unless asked directly. Every administration is different, and this is a different time and place in our country and the world more broadly than when I served in government. I do not know Susie Wiles well, but she strikes me as someone who is confident and grounded in her sense of self (i.e. her own humanity). And she knows and has worked for the president-elect. Those are big pluses, in addition to her experience engaging with Congress. Sununu: Have fun with the job. It is challenging but can still be fun to do. MESSAGE US — Are you SANTA CLAUS? We want to hear from you. Did we get coal this year? Asking for a friend. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
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