Marco Rubio, who once called Trump 'a con artist', tipped to be new US secretary of state

US PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump has asked Michael Waltz, a retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran, to be his national security adviser, a person familiar with the matter said.

It has also been reported that Trump will pick Marco Rubio, who he considered as a potential vice president pick, as to head up foreign affairs as the secretary of state. Both men have notably hawkish views on China, which they see as a threat and challenge to US economic and military might.

The two appointments will be key architects of Trump’s “America First” foreign policy, with the incoming president having promised to end the wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East and avoid any more American military entanglements.

New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik got the nod for UN ambassador, while US media also said Stephen Miller, the author of Trump’s so-called “Muslim ban” immigration policy during his first term, was set to be his deputy chief of staff with a broad portfolio.

The nomination of Rubio, who is of Cuban heritage, would cap a remarkable turnaround in relations between the two men.

In 2016, when they were competing for the Republican presidential nomination, Rubio called Trump a “con artist” and the “most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency.”

Rubio also said in a 2016 Republican presidential primary debate that Trump had “small hands.”

“And you know what they say about guys with small hands,” Rubio added in a sexually suggestive joke.

Trump, who frequently referred to Rubio during the campaign as “Little Marco,” responded by saying “I guarantee you there is no problem.”

House members

The nod to Michael Walz comes in spite of  simmering concerns on Capitol Hill about Trump tapping members of the House, where the final tally is still uncertain. There are worries about pulling any Republican members from the chamber because that would force a new election to fill the empty seat.

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A person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter before Trump made a formal announcement.

The move would put Waltz at the forefront of a litany of national security crises — ranging from the ongoing effort to provide weapons to Ukraine and escalating worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea to the persistent attacks in the Middle East by Iran proxies and the push for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah.

Waltz, a three-term Republican congressman from east-central Florida, was the first Green Beret elected to the US House, and easily won re-election last week.

He has been chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on readiness and a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Waltz is an ardent Trump advocate who backed efforts to overturn the 2020 election. He is considered hawkish on China, and called for a US boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of Covid-19 and its ongoing mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population.

He has been a sharp critic of the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and has called on the US to hold accountable those who bear responsibility for the deaths of the 13 US service members at Abbey Gate and for “thousands of Americans and allies behind enemy lines”.

He has also repeated Trump’s frequent complaints about a so-called “woke” military that the former president has derided as soft and too focused on diversity and equity programmes.

In a statement last year, Waltz said that as head of the readiness subcommittee:

“I am ready to get to work to better equip our military and turn our focus away from woke priorities and back to winning wars. Our national security depends on it.”

A graduate of Virginia Military Institute, Waltz was a Green Beret. He served in the active-duty Army for four years before moving to the Florida Guard. While in the Guard he did multiple combat tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa and was awarded four Bronze Stars, including two with valour.

He also worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defence chiefs. 

With reporting from AFP