Trump picks anti-China Florida Rep. Michael Waltz as for key national security role
Washington DC - Former army special forces veteran and anti-China agitator Michael Waltz is set to be Donald Trump's national security advisor, reports said on Monday.
The New York Times and CNN reported his impending appointment of the Florida representative, citing unnamed sources.
Waltz delivered a speech praising Trump at the Republican National Convention in July, calling for "peace through America's strength".
Asked about Trump's plans to end the war in Ukraine, he told CNN on election night last week that there was "a way to drive this war to an end, we can do it economically, we can do it diplomatically."
He mentioned specifically enforcing sanctions on Russia's energy sector, having previously dubbed the country a "gas station with nukes."
"You could win this economically," he said during an interview to promote his book Hard Truths: Think and Lead Like a Green Beret last month.
Waltz also suggested flooding the oil market with US crude to drive down prices.
"Just pouring more billions in (to Ukraine) is the definition of insanity at this point," he told an interviewer at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute.
Waltz views conflict with China as "existential struggle"
With Florida Senator Marco Rubio widely expected to take on the role of secretary of state, Trump's incoming administration is already shaping up to take an aggressive posture towards China.
Waltz has written that America faces an "existential struggle" with the Chinese Communist Party.
He expressed concern about what he termed a "1930s-era, Nazi Germany-style military build up" in China during a talk at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation last month.
In his speech at the Republican Convention, Waltz also focused on his desire to see "accountability" for Washington's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 under President Joe Biden.
He called it "a stain on our national conscience" and praised Trump for promising to release official documents and communications over the withdrawal.
Waltz served in the disastrous war in Afghanistan during a 27-year career in the army. He has also sat on the Armed Services and Intelligence Committee in the House of Representatives and the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Cover photo: Collage: REUTERS