Trump’s Stunning White House Shakeup

By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

Miller with Trump earlier this year

Happy Friday! The dominoes are falling in the Trump administration after Republicans' massive election losses this week. As the seismic shifts in the political landscape begin to play out, Trump today picked Stephen Miller to replace Susie Wiles as his chief of staff. Here's what you should know about that and a strong October jobs report.

In Major White House Shakeup, Trump Elevates Miller to Chief of Staff

In a dramatic post-election White House shakeup, President Trump announced Friday that he is elevating Stephen Miller to replace Susie Wiles as his chief of staff. In a social media post, Trump called Miller "one of my most trusted advisors" and said that Wiles would be joining his political operation. "I want to thank her for her service as Chief of Staff - She has done a great job!" Trump wrote.

After Republicans suffered a sweeping and historic defeat at the polls this week, speculation has swirled about who would take the blame for the GOP wipeout, with some pundits predicting that the election results signal the end of the MAGA movement and the Trump era in American politics. Yet the move to promote Miller suggests that Trump is far from chastened by the clear and forceful rebuke that voters delivered to him and his party.

Instead, Trump might be doubling down on some of the very policies that voters rejected and installing his version of a "wartime consigliere," a polarizing MAGA pitbull who may be more likely to fight back against Democratic oversight efforts than to work with Democrats on legislation.

Trump had said he was prepared to become "Mr. Veto" with a new Democratic-led Congress, but he had also said he could envision eventually negotiating deals with the other party. But his promotion of the 41-year-old Miller may well portend more confrontation than compromise. After all, Miller is the architect of the administration's controversial immigration crackdown and mass deportation efforts. More broadly, he is known to be a driving force behind much of the administration's hardline agenda. A critical 2020 biography of Miller was titled "Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda."

Jean Guerrero, the investigative reporter who wrote that book, told NPR six years ago that Miller and Trump are very different but work well together: "Stephen Miller is a true ideologue. He's a fanatic. He believes this stuff, whereas Trump is a lot more motivated by self-interest. But ... they've been able to mutually benefit each other in a very unique way. In part, because Stephen Miller gets Donald Trump."

Miller on Friday said he was honored to take on his new job in service of Trump, who he said "has single-handedly saved America from those who would destroy it." He made clear he was ready to rumble. "The mission now is more clear than ever: Fight with all of our soul to support our President and defend this magnificent Republic," Miller wrote in a post on X.

Wiles, 69, has been by Trump's side for years and was essential to his political resurrection and return to the presidency. As the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff, she was also critical to ensuring that the White House operation in Trump's second term was more disciplined and less chaotic than it was in his first term. She battled breast cancer this year before announcing in September that she was cancer-free. Yet as questions started to percolate in recent weeks about her future in the White House, Trump in mid-October denied that he was looking to replace her.

"I could not be more happy with Susie. She's done a great job from day one," Trump told reporters. In a statement at the time, he said Wiles "is my trusted advisor, and has my COMPLETE confidence."

That may have changed once the magnitude of the election drubbing became clear. Trump was reportedly infuriated by the results, and in response, Wiles reportedly offered the president her resignation on Thursday night.

"Serving President Trump in the White House has been the honor of a lifetime," Wiles wrote in a post on X Friday. "I'm so proud to have been a part of what we've accomplished together from securing our border and cutting taxes to strengthening our economy and putting America First. More than anything, I'm grateful for the extraordinary people I've had the privilege of working alongside. While my role may be changing, my commitment to the President and the mission never will."

Asked by reporters what changed in the weeks since he insisted that Wiles would stay in the White House, Trump moved on to another question. Asked again why he made this decision, Trump said it was time.

"I wanted to make a change," he said. "I think Susie's done a very good job, great job, but I just wanted to make it. Stephen's been great. And we've got to make moves."

Trump also praised Miller. "Stephen's been with me from the beginning. He gets it. Very good politically, and he's a very good man. He'll do a great job - great manager."

Democrats panned the move and slammed Miller.

"Donald Trump learned nothing from his historic defeat," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said. "Stephen Miller is the architect of the most barbaric, inhumane policies of this administration. Trump couldn't have made a worse choice. Our Democratic majorities will fight him every step of the way."

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the likely Democratic speaker of the House next year, called Miller "a dangerous xenophobe and reckless extremist who has American blood on his hands." He called for Miller to be fired rather that promoted: "His presence in government should be eradicated like a malignant tumor."

Outgoing Republican Sen. Thom Tillis also harshly criticized Trump's move, calling it a "colossal mistake" after the GOP's election losses.

"The worst of all possible choices," Tillis told CNN, adding that Republicans lost Hispanic support because of their handling of immigration and Homeland Security policies, the core of Miller's portfolio. "We're talking about putting one of the most partisan, polarizing figures - and not only polarizing in terms of Republicans and Democrats, but even among Republicans. How do we think somebody [with] as divisive of a background as Stephen Miller is going to be the olive branch we need to the new Democratic majorities in Congress to get things done?"

Job Market Shows Signs of Strength as Hiring Picks Up

U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs to their payrolls in October, and the unemployment rate fell a tenth of a percentage point to 4.1%, the Labor Department announced Friday. The results smashed expectations for job growth closer to 60,000 and provided fresh evidence that the U.S. economy remains resilient despite widespread concerns about war, inflation and the possibility of AI-driven job losses in the not-too-distant future.

Job growth in August and September was revised higher by a combined 84,000, as well, indicating that the labor market is stronger than previously understood. Over the last three months, job growth has averaged 137,000 a month.

The drop in the unemployment rate is particularly notable since it occurred even as more people entered the job market, as reflected by an uptick in the labor market participation rate to 61.9%.

Sectors adding jobs included professional and business services (70,000), healthcare and social assistance (55,100), transportation and warehousing (24,800), finance (7,000) and government (6,000). The manufacturing sector also saw growth, as employers added 19,000 jobs, driven in large part by the buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure.

What analysts are saying: The October jobs came as a pleasant surprise to many analysts, with some noting that the unemployment rate has been below 4.5% for 61 months, surpassing a streak of low unemployment in the late 1960s.

  • "Job growth snapped back nicely in October," JPMorgan's Michael Feroli wrote in a research note. "Today's numbers fit in with other jobs indicators pointing to an improvement in autumn labor market activity."
  • "You have to look pretty hard to find something to dislike in there," said Dan North, senior economist at Allianz Trade North America, per CNBC. "It's a really, really good report, and all around I think you'd say it's stronger than expected and the best one in a while, and it kind of fits with what I call the stable but perhaps unexciting labor market."
  • Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, said the "blowout jobs report" is "strong on every level." The latest data shows that the "US economy is averaging nearly +86,000 job gains a month in 2026," Long added. "That's much better than the anemic +10,000 average in 2025."

One sour note, though, is wage gains. Although wages grew a better-than-expected 0.4% from September to October, and 3.1% over the previous 12 months, inflation has wiped out all wage gains for the past seven months. "In fact," Long said, "the inflation resurgence has been so strong that it's basically wiped out all wage gains since January 2025."

Cory Stahle, an economist with the Indeed job-search website, said inflation, which played a major role in the recent midterms, remains a central issue. "Workers are losing ground right now," he told NPR. "The longer it wears on, the more and more they're going to feel that."

Another worry lurking in the data: It's getting harder for workers who need a job to find one. More jobless workers are experiencing long-term unemployment, with the percentage of those unemployed for more than 27 weeks rising to 27.6% of all jobless workers in October, the highest since 2021. This is a symptom of what economists are describing as a low-hire, low-fire economy, in which the unemployment rate remains low, but workers have difficulty finding new jobs if they need one. Nearly 2 million Americans are now long-term unemployed.

Nevertheless, the labor market is showing signs of strength, and could be shifting into a higher gear, which could help chip away at the long-term employment numbers. "This report changes our view on the labor market," PNC Economics said in a research note. "The strength was very broad based, with hiring, the unemployment rate, and wage gains all pointing in the same direction. We thought the bar was high for this month's jobs report to matter much given the ongoing jitters around the AI buildout, and this report likely cleared it."

October jobs report chart

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