Morning Wire - Making the U.N. Relevant Again: How Trump is Shaking Up the Organization’s Operation

Episode Date: December 7, 2025

In this episode, Daily Wire Editor-In-Chief Brent Scher sits down with U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz to discuss the administration’s historic shakeup at the United Nations. Waltz details everything from efforts to slash bureaucracy and end failed programs to confronting the persecution of Christians abroad. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.  - - - Wake up with new Morning Wire merch:⁠ https://bit.ly/4lIubt3⁠ - - - Today’s Sponsor: ZipRecruiter: Go to this exclusive web address to try ZipRecruiter FOR FREE: https://ZipRecruiter.com/WIRE - - - Privacy Policy:⁠ https://www.dailywire.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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countries in the right direction, but it's all under his leadership. That was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Mike Walts discussing President Trump's unapologetically America-first approach to international diplomacy and what he argues should be the true purpose of the UN promoting peace. Under the president's direction, Waltz is taking a new, aggressive approach to the international body, demanding a renewed focus on peace and the rejection of what he calls the nonsense that's made the UN increasingly irrelevant over the years. He's also demanding that the organization stop looking the other way when it comes to the persecution of Christians. In this episode, Daily Wire editor-in-chief Brent Scher sits down with Ambassador Waltz to discuss his mission at the UN and President Trump's vision for a more effective, focused foreign policy that protects America's interests.

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ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. Ambassador Michael Waltz, so great having you with us. We've spoken to when you were in Congress, a top surrogate for Donald Trump, the White House National Security Advisor, and now you're in a new role, United States Ambassador to the United Nations. I want to go back to your first week on the job. Trump speaks at the UN. the escalator breaks with him on it, his microphone malfunctions, the teleprompter breaks.

What was it like entering this new role in this new building to all of that? Yeah, I was literally standing right behind him when the escalator came to a halt, and he paused for a moment. But, you know, what did the first lady do? She just started charging right up the stairs. Any other world leader, literally standing on the global stage, A teleprompter goes down. Heck, we saw that happen with Vice President Harris.

And she kind of froze. What did President Trump do? 150 world leaders out there in the audience. He just charged ahead. And I told him afterwards, I think he's better when he speaks from the heart and speaks off the cuff. And what did he say? He said, you know what? You have a lot of potential.

You're supposed to be stopping wars, ending wars, preventing wars. That was the establishment of the. the UN and its purpose after World War II to prevent any other future world wars. And yet here we are 80 years later and we have more conflicts around the globe than ever. The UN's budget is bigger than ever. And he called it like he saw it. He's absolutely correct that they need to get back to basics. Stop with all of the other nonsense trying to do everything for everybody all over the world. stop with the focus on climate, stop with the focus on gender, and all of these other social issues, regardless of how you feel about them, and let's get back to peace.

And as the peace president, he made it work. But I got to tell you, it was my second day on the job, Brent. And it was a heck of a second day. Yeah, I mean, I want to touch on so many of those things, and especially the peace. I mean, this administration has been the force behind peace deals across the globe, and it's the one at the stage right now. It's negotiating the end of the Ukraine-Russia conflict that started during the Biden administration. And this all seems like it's work that's meant for the UN. This is what the United Nations was created to do, but also work that the United Nations has proven incapable of doing.

So, I mean, what is the goal of changing that? Do you guys still think that the UN can be a force for peace? Yeah, well, he does. President Trump does. I do too. It absolutely needs reform and reforms at the top of our agenda. And I get it for folks that say, just walk away, turn out the lights. You know, the United States pays for a quarter, 25% of everything here.

Here's why I would argue and where the president sees the potential of, I would argue, against throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Another fundamental tenet of America first is burden sharing, is other people, you know, kind of pulling their weight to establish peace around the world. And so take, for example, my first Security Council resolution was in Haiti. Gangs have taken over Haiti. They're working with the cartels. They're working with the Venezuelans and others.

They're shipping people, guns, drugs all over, not just the Caribbean, but the Middle East Europe onto our soil as well. The U.S. was trying to take it all on and on sewn. It spent over a billion dollars. We've now shifted that to the U.N., and we'll pay a quarter of what we were paying, and other countries like Kenya and others are going to come in and try to get control of these gangs and get control of the situation. We're actually, we've rebranded it to call it the gang suppression force and given them much, more of an offensive mandate. So whether it's places like Haiti or the absolute humanitarian crisis that is Sudan or the President Trump's peace plan in Gaza, we're now going to get an international

force in there to keep the peace in Gaza. We got our hostages out. The UN blessed President Trump's peace plan. So sharing the burden and having a mechanism where everyone can come in and do that is also important. We've just got to get it back focused on those peacekeeping and peace enforcement missions that they did so well in the past and that they strayed from in recent decades. Yeah. I mean, are you one of these people that has your position changed? Because when you were in Congress, I mean, you openly advocated for defunding the UN and you'd spotlight a lot of the problems they had. I mean, I remember the things you said about how they let China. influence their handling of the COVID pandemic.

Do you no longer think that defunding is an option? Should that be a threat? No, well, it's composed of 82 agencies, and we need to get out of the ones that aren't going to work for us or work against us. So you mentioned COVID. We've walked away from WHO, the World Health Organization. UNRWA, the UN agency and Gaza that's been completely infiltrated by Hamas. We walked out of and defunded that too.

The so-called human rights councils that, you know, cater to countries like North Korea and Venezuela and Iran, we've walked away from that. So it's really about focusing our effort on the parts that align with the America First Agenda and defunding and walking away from the rest of it and the nonsense. Case in point, there's seven UN agencies focused on climate change. like sit aside the debate of it. At most, you need one, if not none. But you definitely don't need seven. So that's the kind of reform agenda that we're driving here. We're defunding all kinds of these agencies, again, led by the president with an America First agenda. But there are core pieces that we do need to focus on. Case and point, there is an agency that regulates how we do space, telecommunications, global shipping. There's one that actually set standards for civil aviation around the world. I don't know about you, Brent, like when I land, we fly internationally,

I want everybody speaking English, landing the planes the same way, the mechanics train the same way. We want them aligned with our standards, not China or Russia's standards. And I guess the last argument that I would make is, again, if we're a peace party, this is a peace president, we should have one place in the world where everybody can talk, where everyone can come together and at least try to hammer things out with using diplomacy either to end wars or prevent wars. I want that American-led and in the United States, not in places like Beijing or Moscow. But I'm 100% on board. We've got a clean house.

We've been doging. We've been reforming. One other, you know, just statistics that I'll throw at you, we've been on the job a couple of months. And obviously, the president, the first year in his term, the UN has already agreed to cut over 2,600 bureaucratic positions, bureaucrats out of its headquarters, a 15% overall budget cut, and a quarter, 25% of its peacekeepers around the world. So we're cutting more doging. we're going to get them back to basics in line with the president's vision. Yeah, I mean, you know the Trump foreign policy doctrine better than anyone you've been there from day one.

And it sounds like you think that the United Nations can actually be a place where you help carry out that doctrine and create an America first, you know, peace, presidency across the country or across the world. Yeah, look, again, we've got to clean it up and we've got to clean house. but it is a place where other countries can and should contribute. It's a place where everybody can and should try to work things out diplomatically first before you have any kind of conflict. And importantly, you have all these global standard-setting bodies from AI to space to shipping. We don't want them working against us. We want them working for American industries and American businesses.

Yeah, and it sounds like you're putting your best effort to give a good faith, effort there. But at the same time, you've had your own drama. I mean, I remember the Cuban ambassador making a show out of disrupting one of your speeches. Does it feel like you're operating in hostile territory every day at the United Nations? You know, there are days where I think that the tribes of the Middle East Afghanistan are easier than here. You know, I'm a green beret by background. I've served all over the world. It is an easy. My wife sometimes says I'm a mascus, but look, this is this is the world stage right here in New York. A hundred and ninety three countries have embassies to the UN.

There's actually more embassies in New York to the United Nations than there are in Washington, D.C., to the United States. Because you have countries here like North Korea, like Iran, like Cuba and others. And again, there should be one place in the world where we could deal with all of them. Well, anyway, I'll just leave it at that. I wanted to just, as a last thing, talk about one of your most public successes there at the United Nations, which has been putting a spotlight on the tragic situation in Nigeria with a major assist from Nicky Minaj. I mean, I've seen the videos of you guys walking around New York together. Can you tell us just a bit more about that relationship and how this all came about and just how helpful she's been in making

this, the global issue that it should be? Well, it won't surprise you, Brent. It actually started with President Trump, who kind of, you know, again, put a spotlight on the persecution of Christians around the world, but according to most NGOs, 80% of Christians that are that are killed and persecuted actually happens in Nigeria, sixth largest country in the world by population, largest in Africa. And he put a spotlight. on it. She replied as a Christian or self and thanked him.

And then I have to give credit or credits due at the suggestion of our friend Alex Brousowitz. He suggests, you know, invite her to the UN, invite her to the embassy. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about what we can do together. And she responded

and came. We had an amazing panel. We dialed in a pastor from Nigeria who told his firsthand stories. of churches that are being burned, clergy that's literally being beheaded, people who are being chased out of their home for the crime of wearing a cross, the blasphemy laws and the Sharia law that is in place in much of Nigeria and other countries. These are things that, you know, someone like her with her quarter billion followers across all of her platforms,

It's an unlikely pairing, didn't see that one coming, but where we can work together to not just put a spotlight and educate people, but to make sure there's real action. And we've seen the Nigerian government move not fast enough, but move in a better direction in response to the president and a response to the things that we're doing here. So look, the UN can be a place and a platform to do things like that, whether it's on the person. of Christians, human trafficking, or other issues that, you know, give voice to the voiceless. Yeah, it is. It's a testament to how powerful the United Nations could be when it's actually focusing on the right things. And the situation in Nigeria is the right thing. Climate and seven climate organizations, as you pointed out, is just the wrong thing. Ambassador Walts, this was so great to talk with you again. And we'll see what you're able to achieve the

United Nations. I'll take your word for it. All right. Well, we're swinging. We're swinging hard. We're going to clean it up and get it focused on the right things. And again, you know, the president's what, 9-10 peace deals in. We put that international stamp on a number of them. We're sharing the burden, pushing these countries in the right direction. But it's all under his leadership. And great to be with you, brother. Thank you. That was DailyWire editor-in-chief Brent Shure speaking with U.S. ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz. This has been a weekend edition of Morning Wire.