by WorldTribune Staff, November 12, 2024 Contract With Our Readers
President-elect Donald Trump is moving quickly to fill key foreign policy positions amid the still combustible Ukraine-Russia and Hamas-Israel wars.
Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Mike WaltzTrump is expected to nominate Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of state and has asked Florida Republican Rep. Mike Waltz to be his White House national security adviser, reports say.
Trump also announced Tuesday the appointment of Fox News’s Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense and former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Chief John Ratcliffe to be Director of the CIA.
“Trump could change his mind on the Rubio move, as he remains fond of others lobbying for the secretary of state role. But people familiar with the Rubio decision said that Trump feels good about going with him,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
Rubio is seen as a hawk on China, Iran, and Cuba.
He had joined most of the D.C. establishment in supporting Ukraine against Russia but in recent months has advocated for the conflict to end as soon as possible.
Trump has said he would move to end the Ukraine-Russia war quickly.
Last week, Rubio said the U.S. was “funding a stalemate war” and that it would take “100 years” to rebuild Ukraine.
Rubio has been a consistent critic of China.
He said: “The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) doesn’t believe in simple principles like religious liberty, the right to free speech, democratic elections. Their willingness to undermine all of the institutions and the norms of the world to fulfill this ambition is without a doubt the singular geopolitical issue of the 21st century.”
The communist regime in Beijing went so far as to impose a travel ban on Rubio for his criticism of China’s human rights atrocities in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
“It would be a nightmare coming true if he got the job,” Zhu Junwei, a former researcher in the People’s Liberation Army and current director of American research at Beijing’s Grandview Institution think tank, told the Australian Financial Review. “China has to consider what to do with the sanctions on him before being able to have any engagement with him.”
The Rubio decision, if Trump goes through with it as expected, would open up a Senate seat in Florida, giving Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis a chance to appoint a successor. The seat would be up for election in 2026.
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Waltz, a fellow tough-on-China lawmaker, has echoed Trump’s no-tolerance on illegal immigration and skepticism of America’s support for Ukraine.
Last year, Waltz penned an opinion piece for FoxNews.com in which he argued that “the era of Ukraine’s blank check from Congress is over.” He has echoed Trump in calling on Europe to do more to ensure the collective defense of members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“Stopping Russia before it draws NATO and therefore the U.S. into war is the right thing to do,” Waltz wrote. “But the burden cannot continue to be solely on the shoulders of the American people, especially while Western Europe gets a pass.”
On Monday, Trump selected New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
The Waltz and Stefanik appointments would trigger special elections next year to fill their seats in the House, where the GOP maintains a narrow majority.
Other Trump selections:
• Susie Wiles has been chosen for Chief of Staff. She was a senior advisor to Trump’s 2024 presidential election and the first major decision that Trump announced after his win. Although not a Cabinet position, this is a key role in the White House.
• Tom Homan has been tapped as to oversee border control. He previously acted as Trump’s head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and will join his new administration. Homan will report to the Secretary of Homeland Security.
• Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota, has been picked to serve as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. She is described as a “loyalist” who will be key to Trump’s domestic agenda.
• Stephen Miller has been chosen to return as Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy. He served as a senior advisor in Trump’s first administration and White House director of speechwriting. This is a key advisory role outside of the Cabinet.
• Lee Zeldin has been chosen to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. He is a former New York congressmen and officer in the United States Army Reserve. EPA administrator is not in the Cabinet, but is seen as a Cabinet-level role.
• Trump said he intends to nominate former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as U.S. ambassador to Israel.
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Trump moves quickly on national security policy picks as foreign wars simmer; Pete Hegseth named defense secretary added by Editor Two on November 12, 2024
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