Some officials question whether Trump truly needs a traditional National Security Council. They say they are seeking ways to serve Trump himself, rather than the White House as an institution. A National Security Council staffed with mid- to senior-level policy experts might not be part of the equation for a president who thinks he is his own best adviser and is deeply skeptical of conventional wisdom on world affairs, they say.
“Some of that just happens through the working process,” one senior White House official said. “So you have to adapt and build and grow and evolve based on your own reality. In some ways, it’s just a product of doing this for a few months now and finding opportunities to do it differently.”
On foreign policy, but more broadly across his presidency, Trump has hired MAGA true believers for roles that went to traditionalists in his first term. This week’s moves were another shift in that direction, not just sidelining an adviser whose views leaned traditional but also diminishing the influence of the National Security Council by handing temporary oversight to Rubio.
Waltz was always a surprise choice for the role. Though he was loyal to the president, his foreign policy preferences leaned hawkish. On Russia, he favored a tough approach to President Vladimir Putin. Trump has pursued far more conciliatory approaches to Moscow and Tehran, in both instances sending a close friend, Steve Witkoff, as his envoy in a quest to make deals.
The dual-hatted role will leave Rubio with little bandwidth to build out an institution that, under ordinary circumstances, is stocked with career experts from across the government whose job is to devise strategy, experts said. Traditional national security advisers ensure the country’s complicated foreign policymaking apparatus is moving in the same direction. Now they are expected to focus on Trump’s desires.
One senior White House official said the president made the final decision about Waltz’s move on Thursday by turning to his most trusted adviser: himself.
“Certainly, people give opinions,” the official said. But with decisions like this, “it’s him.”
The official played down the importance of policy differences in the decision to move him to the United Nations.
“I’ve known Mike for a while, and at the end of the day, he implements what the president wants to do, especially on foreign policy,” the official said. “He doesn’t freelance.”
Michael Birnbaum is a White House reporter for The Washington Post, covering the Trump presidency.
John Hudson is a reporter at The Washington Post covering the State Department and national security.
Emily Davies is a reporter covering the White House.
Sarah Ellison is a national enterprise reporter based in New York for The Washington Post.
Natalie Allison covers the White House for the Washington Post, doing so after reporting on Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign to return to power.
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