Our St. Augustine Beach Congressman, Michael George Glen Waltz (R), will be DJT's national security adviser. Met him in 2018, when he returned to the St. Johns County Commission, and stopped at my table, discussing the proposed St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore. Rep. Waltz listens and learns. As demonstrated by his voting record, Rep. Waltz respects the fundamental human, legal and constitutional right to Gay marriage, now recognized around the world. On the 75th anniversary of the Normandy invasion, Rep. Waltz parachuted out of a C-47 over Normandy, just as my dad did on D-Day (but my dad jumped into Nazi-occupied France, carrying a full 140 pound pack). From The New York Times:
Trump to Name Michael Waltz as His National Security Adviser
The president-elect has chosen a Republican member of Congress from Florida to oversee national security policy in the White House.
President-elect Donald J. Trump has chosen Representative Michael Waltz of Florida to be his national security adviser, two people familiar with the decision said on Monday, turning to a former Green Beret who has taken a tough line on China to oversee foreign and national security policy in the White House.
Mr. Waltz is the second Republican House member to be selected by Mr. Trump for a high-level job in his next administration, after his choice of Representative Elise Stefanik of New York for ambassador to the United Nations.
Mr. Waltz, 50, has been a member of the Armed Services, Intelligence and Foreign Affairs Committees in the House and would join the Trump administration as it addresses Russia’s war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East and confronts an increasingly aggressive China. His wife, Julia Nesheiwat, was homeland security adviser in the first Trump administration.
Even as a congressional freshman, Mr. Waltz caught the eye of the Trump White House with his national security credentials. In 2020, in the days after Mr. Trump authorized the drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani of Iran, Mr. Waltz was included in a small group of Republicans invited to the White House who received a briefing on the strike.
he Wall Street Journal earlier reported the move.
Mr. Waltz, who became a fixture on Fox News on matters of foreign policy, is widely regarded on Capitol Hill as a hawk on both China and Iran. He served multiple combat tours in Afghanistan and vociferously opposed President Biden’s withdrawal of troops from there. “What no one can ever do for me, including this administration right now, is articulate a counterterrorism plan that’s realistic without us there,” Mr. Waltz, who also served as a counterterrorism adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, said in an interview in the days after the withdrawal.
Mr. Waltz had also opposed withdrawing large numbers of troops from Afghanistan during the Trump administration without stringent conditions, and he introduced legislation to prevent a significant troop drawdown from Afghanistan unless the director of national intelligence could certify that the Taliban would not associate with Al Qaeda.
The pick would also whittle down even further what is expected to be a slender Republican majority in the House in the early days of the next congressional session.
House Republicans appear on track to win a narrow majority in the next Congress. Special elections would need to be held to replace both Mr. Waltz and Ms. Stefanik, who currently represent safe districts for the party.
Maggie Haberman is a senior political correspondent reporting on the 2024 presidential campaign, down ballot races across the country and the investigations into former President Donald J. Trump. More about Maggie Haberman
Catie Edmondson covers Congress for The Times. More about Catie Edmondson
If only we could be sure that Trump won't staff his cabinet with the likes of Laura Loomer, Dinesh De'Souza, Mike Lindell, and Alex Jones, and any other clown car occupants that he can find...to make a mockery of our systems and institutions. Billionaires in government do that to make government look like a failure so they can offer their services as an alternative.
ReplyDeleteThe way these cardboard cutouts for the rich grifted the Latino community was pitiful. They were duped by the anti communist propaganda... which has no basis in reality and the end result is distraction from actual economic mobility and the barriers which too many Republicans erect themselves by resisting progress in everything from heathcare to education.
ReplyDeleteIt's just a good thing that Billy the Bamboozler McSewer was rooted out of the mix.
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