Donald Trump continues to fit the pieces of the puzzle of his future team. The president-elect has named Florida Congressman Mike Waltz as his future national security advisor, as announced in a statement. Waltz has in common with the rest of those chosen by the president-elect for high positions his loyalty to the Republican. He was part of the thirty congressmen who went to New York to pay homage to the leader when he was being tried by the Stormy Daniels case,defended him against his political process (impeachment)and also supported the president’s attempts to reverse the result of the 2020 election.
Trump highlighted in his statement that he is an expert on “threats from China, Russia, Iran and global terrorism.” “He will be a tremendous champion in our pursuit of peace through strength,” his note says.
Waltz serves on the House China Task Force, which coordinates policy on how the United States should compete with the Asian superpower. He is one of the most belligerent congressmen regarding China. He called for the United States to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of Covid and the mistreatment it is inflicting on the Uyghur Muslim minority.
He has also been very critical of NATO and aid to Ukraine. “The era of Congress’s blank check for Ukraine is over,” he wrote last year in an article on the Fox News website. “Stopping Russia before it drags NATO, and therefore the United States, into war is the right thing to do. But the burden cannot continue to fall solely on the shoulders of the American people,” he maintained.
The national security advisor, a position currently held by Jake Sullivan, is highly influential in US foreign policy. He is a qualified interlocutor for the president and international leaders. This is a position that does not require Senate confirmation. It involves coordination among major national security agencies, reporting to the president and executing his policies. Waltz arrives at the position at a time of conflict and uncertainty on the geopolitical table.
Waltz, 50, is a Green Beret veteran who served in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa. He then served in advisory roles in the White House, as well as at the Pentagon, as director of defense policy for Defense Secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates. He also advised the Bush Administration on the policy he later carried out in the military.
As a congressman, he has been chairman of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee and also a member of its Foreign Affairs Committee and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
He harshly criticized the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and called for those responsible for the death of the 13 US soldiers at Abbey Gate to be held accountable. He has also repeated Trump’s frequent complaints about a military woke upwhich the former president has derided as soft and too focused on diversity and equity programs.
In a statement last year reported by the Associated Press, Waltz said: “I am willing to get to work to better equip our military and stop focusing on priorities.” woke upand refocus on winning wars. Our national security depends on it.”
His name was also mentioned as a possible candidate to be Secretary of Defense, since Trump continues to want to surround himself with his faithful in positions of responsibility in his Cabinet. Among the candidates for that position is retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, who held national security positions during Trump’s first term.
Trump had four national security advisers in his first term, the first of whom, Michael Thomas Flynn, only spent 22 days in office. The then-president also had a stormy relationship with the second and third, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster and John Bolton, were eventually fired by Trump over their disagreements. Robert O’Brien was the fourth and lasted until the end of the previous president’s term.
