Trump picks Rep. Mike Waltz to serve as his national security adviser

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1. President-Elect [Donald Trump](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump) has picked Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., to serve as his [national security](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security) adviser, according to four sources familiar with the decision.

   Waltz is a Green Beret veteran who served in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa. He has represented a congressional district in Florida since 2019.

   The role of White House national security adviser does not require Senate confirmation.

   Read more: [https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-picks-rep-mike-waltz-serve-national-security-adviser-rcna179698](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-picks-rep-mike-waltz-serve-national-security-adviser-rcna179698)

2. Mike Waltz also initially was objecting to certify the 2020 election, although he changed course after the violence at the capital on January 6th, 2020. A pattern in these picks may be starting to emerge.

3. Is he on the record anywhere in regards to the Ukrainian conflict?

4. Anyone who knows what his view are on India, policy wise?

5. Interesting that Polymarket betting odds, which so far have been extremely accurate with the election and Trump’s cabinet picks, had Waltz as Sec Def. Going to be very interesting seeing who gets the vital Defense role (polymarket has no idea right now).

6. It’s hard to really see how this affects Ukraine. Waltz infamously wrote an op-ed saying it was time to end the “blank check” to Ukraine, but it’s unclear how much of that was his own actual opinions, versus him trying to gain favor with the Trump base by telling them what they want to hear.

   Waltz’s true views on foreign policy may be better indicated by a speech he gave at CPAC in 2017, criticizing Obama’s Afghanistan troop withdrawals, where he said that “we are in for a lot more fighting,” are “in for the long haul,” and were in a “multi-generational war.”

   What will we see in the White House? The “real” Mike Waltz that tells America we’re “in for the long haul,” or the cynical political Mike Waltz who doesn’t want to give out a “blank check”?

7. Trump’s ambiguous foreign policy marketing has honestly been genius.

   The anti-war doves of the Republican party read Trump’s “I will end all wars” statements as stopping all wars through negotiation and diplomacy, while the hawks read Trump’s “peace through strength” statements as a strongman who establishes deterrence through strength and threats.

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