Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) should quickly hold a full Senate confirmation vote for Mike Waltz, President Donald Trump‘s nominee to serve as United States ambassador to the United Nations.
Waltz is a former Army special forces officer (Green Beret), congressman from Florida, and Trump’s former national security adviser. He left that latter position in May, following the so-called “Signalgate” controversy, wherein Waltz accidentally invited journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to a private group on the Signal messaging app. The group then discussed military strikes on the Houthis in Yemen. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared classified information on the chat.
Still, Waltz is rightly regarded by a plurality of Republicans and centrist Democrats as a smart, sensible, and honorable man. He would serve Trump and the country well as America’s ambassador to the U.N. Moreover, the exigent need for an Ambassador at U.N. headquarters should be obvious. Just look at the world today.
Trump-mediated negotiations between Ukraine and Russia over a possible end to the now three and a half year running war are gaining momentum. Still, the complexities involved here are significant and complex. U.S. warships and Marine expeditionary forces are also now gathering off the coast of Venezuela. The White House is simultaneously warning that Trump has reserved all options on the table in order to confront dictator Nicolas Maduro’s use of his country as one big illegal drug export factory.
China is escalating its military pressure on the Philippines, a U.S. treaty defense ally, and simultaneously advancing its military preparations for a possible invasion of Taiwan.
Israel remains locked between continued conflict with Hamas and negotiations with the terrorist group toward the release of Israeli hostages. At the same time, close American allies are dramatically escalating diplomatic pressure on Israel by unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state.
Iran is refusing to give up on its aspirations for a reconstituted nuclear program, raising the possibility of new U.S. and/or Israeli military action against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime in the coming months. Pressure is also building from the Europeans to impose new sanctions on Iran in relation to its ballistic missile program.
WILL TRUMP KEEP LETTING PUTIN PLAY HIM FOR TIME?
Waltz has both the diplomatic acumen and, as crucially, the trust of the president to effectively manage America’s U.N. strategy on these problems (and the inevitably unpredictable crisis events yet to arise). If Trump is serious about advancing his peace-through-strength diplomatic agenda, it is plainly idiotic not to ensure he has a trusted voice at the U.N. table.
Thune should thus expediently set Waltz a vote date and get him confirmed.