Trump's Reported National Security Advisor Supports Bombing Russia and Afghanistan

Foreign Policy

Matthew Petti | 11.12.2024 10:02 AM

So much for keeping out the war hawks. President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly chosen Rep. Mike Waltz (R–Fla.) to be his national security adviser and Sen. Marco Rubio (R–Fla.) to be his secretary of state. Rubio is a longtime regime change and war enthusiast, although he's recently pivoted to Trump's position that the war in Ukraine has to end diplomatically.

Waltz, on the other hand, doesn't even have a pretense of wanting to stay out of wars. He's been passionately in favor of escalating conflicts that Trump wants out of, including in Afghanistan and Ukraine. And he supports not only threatening to attack Iran but also militarily confronting Russia, which Waltz calls a "gas station with nukes."

If last week was a bad time to be a member of the Cheney family, this week is shaping up to be a good one. After working as a Department of Defense policy planner for the Bush administration, Waltz served as former Vice President Dick Cheney's counterterrorism adviser. And it shows.

"I think we're in for a long haul and I think our nation's leadership needs to begin telling the American people, I'm sorry, we don't have a choice, we're 15 years into what is going to be a multi-generational war because we're talking about defeating an idea," Waltz........

© Reason.com