Musical Chairs

A day after taking part in one of Trump’s unctuous song and dance cabinet meetings in which members try to outdo each other in their praising of the president, National security adviser Michael Waltz appears to be facing the music and getting ousted from his spot and instead has been nominated as UN Ambassador. For now, Marco Rubio will be cutting in and stepping into the NSA role in addition to leading the State Department. (Double the genuflecting for the same price.) Waltz is most famous for his inadvertent inclusion of The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg on the Yemen attack planning Signal chat heard around the world. While Waltz had two left feet when it comes to securing classified chats, he also was out of step with the administration. For example, he had some relevant experience before being nominated for his job. And he had some traditional conservative views. For example, “Republicans in Congress who favor continued U.S. military aid to Ukraine viewed Waltz as a counterweight to Vice President J.D. Vance and others in the administration who have a more skeptical view of Kyiv and its cause.” If the rest of the cabinet is any indication, the next NSA head on the dance card will be even worse.

+ “Waltz was one of the more respected and expert hands on Trump’s team, and that would have doomed him sooner or later.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): Mike Waltz Was Doomed From the Start.

+ “The tensions that led to Waltz’s departure began before the so-called Signalgate affair, according to four people familiar with the situation. One of those people told Semafor that Waltz’s traditionally hawkish views of national security created tension with more isolationist players in the White House — and said that the former Green Beret was on the outs in Trump’s network even before the group chat flap.” Semafor: Trump’s national security adviser ousted amid ideological tensions.