WASHINGTON — So, President Donald Trump was like, “Hey, Mike Waltz, you’re gonna be the new UN ambassador! And Marco Rubio, you’re gonna be the acting national security adviser while still doing your thing at the State Department.” This all happened after the news came out that Waltz was bouncing from the administration. Apparently, he added a journalist to a Signal chat where they were talking about military stuff.
In a tweet (because where else would he announce it), Trump was all, “Excited to nominate Mike Waltz as the next US Ambassador to the UN. He’s been putting America first from the battlefield to Congress to being my National Security Advisor.” And then he’s like, “Oh, and Marco Rubio is gonna fill in for Mike while juggling his State Department duties. Together, we’re gonna make America and the world safe again.”
Fun fact: Henry Kissinger did both the secretary of state and national security adviser gig from ’73 to ’75. So, it’s not totally unheard of.
Waltz got some heat back in March for adding journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to a private chat on Signal where they were talking about some military operation in Yemen. Trump’s decision to send Waltz to the UN came after he changed his mind about Rep. Elise Stefanik taking the job. Stefanik got her nomination pulled in March because her vote was too important to the Republicans in the House.
Waltz was all, “Yeah, I’m honored to keep serving Trump and America.” But there was this far-right lady, Laura Loomer, who was all up in arms about Waltz. She told Trump he needed to get rid of people who weren’t loyal enough to the whole “Make America Great Again” thing.
Waltz used to be in the House representing Florida before he became national security adviser. Trump wanted to avoid all the drama he had with his staff during his first term, so this shuffle was supposed to help with that.
The whole Signal chat thing with Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth caused quite a stir. Hegseth was giving out details about military stuff in an unsecured app. And get this, he set up a personal computer in his office that wasn’t secure either. So, there might’ve been some sensitive info at risk.
But Trump’s standing by Hegseth and Waltz, even though Dems and some Republicans are giving them a hard time. The Pentagon inspector general is looking into Hegseth’s use of Signal. And it’s added to the chaos at the Pentagon with Hegseth getting rid of some of his close advisers.
Now that Waltz is up for the UN ambassador gig, he’s gotta go through the whole Senate confirmation process. And you know how that can be. Lawmakers, especially Dems, are gonna grill him about sharing info on Signal about a US airstrike.
So, there you have it. The Trump administration is shuffling things around, and not everyone is happy about it. But hey, that’s politics for you.
