The White House finally said something true

December 16, 2025, will forever be known as the day the truth slipped out from inside the Trump White House. Over the course of eleven interviews with journalist Chris Whipple, published today in Vanity Fair, Susie Wiles, the president’s own chief of staff, described Donald Trump as having “an alcoholic’s personality.” She called Russell Vought, the architect of Trump’s budget agenda, “a right-wing absolute zealot,” and labeled Vice President J.D. Vance “a conspiracy theorist.” She also referred to Elon Musk as a “weird bird,” suggested his online behavior reflected ketamine use, and said his attacks on the United States Agency for International Development initially left her “aghast.” Wiles further stated that Attorney General Pam Bondi “completely whiffed” in her handling of the Epstein files. The most striking part is that none of this was leaked or whispered off the record. These were statements made openly by the person responsible for running the White House and managing the president himself.

As backlash over Wiles’s remarks spread, Trump responded in an interview with the New York Post. Rather than showing concern, he brushed off her comments with visible indifference, defended Wiles, and displayed little reaction to her assessment of his mindset or leadership. He took a few perfunctory shots at Vanity Fair, saying it had “lost its way” and “lost its readers,” and repeatedly described Wiles as “fantastic”.

Wiles, for her part, turned to social media to push back on the reporting. She labeled the article a “disingenuously framed hit piece,” arguing that key context had been omitted and that selective quotes were used to create what she described as an unfairly chaotic and negative portrayal of both the president and his team.

But what matters here is not just that someone this close to the president would say such things. What matters is what these admissions confirm. This is not a well-run administration staffed with the best people for the job. This is a White House being described by its own chief of staff as impulsive, ideologically extreme, conspiratorial, chemically influenced, and chaotic at the highest levels.

And it is happening at a moment when the consequences of that dysfunction are compounding. This is the same administration ordering blockades of foreign oil tankers, refusing to release footage of lethal military strikes, suing international news organizations for their reporting, and attempting to permanently reshape the White House into a personal monument.

When the person charged with managing the president openly describes him as having “an alcoholic’s personality,” it does not read as an insult. It reads as an assessment. She is describing volatility, denial, impulsivity, and an inability to control his impulses. Which is exactly what we are seeing. These traits become increasingly dangerous when paired with unchecked power, which is exactly what he has.

And when that same person calls the budget director a “right-wing absolute zealot” and the vice president a “conspiracy theorist,” she is not critiquing style or tone. She is describing an ideology first operation, one where belief overrides evidence and loyalty overrides law.

It is also hard not to wonder whether this is Susie Wiles beginning to jump ship in the cleanest way possible, while she still can. She is a sharp and seasoned political operator. She sees the boat taking on water. She understands what the Trump White House is likely to look like after the midterms. It is possible she wants out, or at least wants distance, so she can later claim she saw it too, that she tried, and that she was not fully responsible for what followed. That may be an attempt to salvage a career or a legacy. History will decide whether that effort succeeds.

Even knowing what is happening behind the scenes, and even hearing what his own chief of staff thinks, the most dangerous part of this moment is not dysfunction. It is power without restraint. This administration is not simply chaotic. It is operating as though laws truly do not apply and consequences are for other people.

Let’s get into the news from today. The U.S. military once again launched missile strikes on three boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing eight people, it claims were involved in drug trafficking. These strikes happened in international waters. There were no arrests, no efforts to detain the alleged criminals, and no evidence collected. If you are suspected of drug trafficking, your punishment is now immediate death in the United States. If those men had been caught on U.S. soil, they would have gone to trial. They might have faced long prison sentences. But they certainly would not have been executed by missile. What we’re witnessing is the slow, deliberate erasure of due process. And that should terrify everyone, not just because of what happened, but because of what it signals. The president is testing the limits of executive violence, and each time, he pushes further.

And remember the September 2 drone strike in the Caribbean that initially left two survivors, who were later killed in a follow-up strike? The administration still refuses to release the full, unedited video. On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the footage would remain classified to the public, though House and Senate Armed Services Committees would be allowed to view it privately. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said officials came “empty-handed.” Senator Adam Schiff is drafting a resolution to compel the release. Senator Richard Blumenthal has called for a subpoena. Even Republican Senator Rand Paul demanded the public see the video, noting there’s been no proof the boats were armed. The pressure is growing because the story keeps getting darker. At least 95 people have been killed in this undeclared military campaign across the Pacific and Caribbean. The Pentagon has admitted the follow-up fire was ordered. And Trump himself, earlier this month, said the final call on whether to release the footage was up to Hegseth, after reports emerged that the commander of the strike acted on what was described as a “kill everybody” order. This is the normalization of targeted killing in peacetime. And another test to see how far they can take these kinds of actions.

But it’s continuing to catch up to them, because the numbers don’t lie. On December 16, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Trump’s approval rating has dropped to 39 percent, and that’s not something they can ignore. Just 33 percent of adults approve of how he’s handling the economy, and only 27 percent approve of how he’s handling the cost of living. Inflation is still hovering around 3 percent, tariffs are driving up prices, and the government shutdown added even more instability. And we are not out of the woods on that. We could very well find ourselves back in another shutdown in January.

What that tells us is that people are starting to get it. It’s not just the Rob Reiner post that shook people; it’s everything. As much as the administration keeps insisting the economy is strong, regular people are looking at their rent, their groceries, their medical bills, and saying, “This isn’t working.” You can only be told things are fine for so long before you stop believing it. Especially when your bank account says otherwise. His most devout followers might have believed the prosperity would eventually catch up to them. But now that it hasn’t, now that things are actually getting worse, they’re starting to admit they were either lied to or used.

Before I go tonight, Trump says he’ll be giving a primetime address to the nation tomorrow night. No details yet on what he plans to say, but I think we all know what to expect: more propaganda, more projection, more distraction. Still, I’ll be watching. And I’ll be here to break it all down for you after.

I’ll see you tomorrow, and remember, things are starting to turn in bigger ways.
Keep the faith that better days will come.
Heather

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