Despite the Leftmedia churn, there’s not much substance to take away from Vanity Fair’s recent multipart interview with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. Or to put it another way, a Leftmedia organization produced an unflattering article on Donald Trump’s White House, film at 11:00.

The response has been predictable, with a number of conservative commentators wondering why the Trump administration would agree to this and needlessly expose itself to criticism.

In particular, critics highlighted a number of rather candid comments from Wiles, including her saying that Trump has an “alcoholic’s personality.” (Trump himself later agreed.) Wiles also mildly criticized other members of Trump’s team, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, former DOGE head Elon Musk, and Vice President JD Vance.

As the article’s author, Chris Whipple, summarized it:

Trump, she told me, “has an alcoholic’s personality.” Vance’s conversion from Never Trumper to MAGA acolyte, she said, has been “sort of political.” The vice president, she added, has been “a conspiracy theorist for a decade.” Russell Vought, architect of the notorious Project 2025 and head of the Office of Management and Budget, is “a right-wing absolute zealot.” When I asked her what she thought of Musk reposting a tweet about public sector workers killing millions under Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, she replied: “I think that’s when he’s microdosing.” (She says she doesn’t have first-hand knowledge.)

Wiles also criticized Bondi’s Jeffrey Epstein files-reveal stunt. As Wiles observed regarding that fiasco, “There is no client list, and it sure as hell wasn’t on her desk.” She also comments on the DOJ’s decision to transfer Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum-security prison, stating, “The president was ticked. The president was mighty unhappy. I don’t know why they moved her. Neither does the president.”

Bondi’s Epstein stunt did deserve criticism, as she clearly got well out over her skis, making promises that she failed to fulfill. It was a black eye not only for Bondi but for the administration.

Following Vanity Fair’s publication of the article, Wiles blasted it as “a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history.” She claimed that “significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story.” She concluded, “I assume, after reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team.”

Does anyone doubt that was Vanity Fair’s objective? This is politics after all. But what is also political is the notion that this article actually matters, in that it will move people’s opinions regarding Trump and his administration one way or the other.

Interestingly, what is upsetting to most conservatives is that the Trump White House agreed to allow access, knowing that it would result in a negative piece. The big question is why?

Some have suggested that Wiles is attempting to shore up her legacy before an exit, given that the average tenure of a White House chief of staff is 18 months. Yet Trump’s response to the story has been to express his complete support and trust in Wiles. It doesn’t look like she’ll be leaving anytime soon.

There may be another possibility at play here. Undoubtedly, no president has had a more hostile relationship with the mainstream media than Trump. Indeed, Trump regularly chastises them for reporting “fake news.” Given this reality, one would assume Trump would be especially guarded in granting media access to his administration, particularly from more obvious opposition outlets.

Currently, Trump has lawsuits pending against three media outlets. Just this week, he filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC over its deceptively edited video of his January 6, 2021, speech. Trump is also awaiting the outcome of a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, and a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and its owner, Rupert Murdoch.

Trump has also scored victories against the press. CBS agreed to pay a $16 million settlement after “60 Minutes” deceptively edited an interview with then-Vice President and Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris. And last December, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million toward Trump’s presidential library after he sued for defamation because anchor George Stephanopoulos falsely said that Trump was guilty of sexually assaulting writer E. Jean Carroll.

Given this history, it just might be that Trump sees Vanity Fair as an opportunity to target and collect another media scalp. It will be interesting to see in the coming days if the Trump administration moves beyond spinning this article as a “hit piece.”