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

Summary

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

Podcast: Morning Wire
Date: December 7, 2025
Host: Brent Scher (Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief)
Guest: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the bold changes underway at the United Nations under President Trump’s administration, focusing on U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz’s mission to reform the organization. The conversation centers on the push to refocus the U.N. on its original mandate — promoting peace and security — and curtail involvement in what the Trump team calls “distractions” like climate and social issues. The discussion explores pragmatic steps taken to cut bureaucracy, share burdens, and wield American influence at the U.N., with firsthand insights into global diplomacy, successes, and the challenges encountered inside the institution.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Entering the U.N. — First Impressions & Challenges

• [04:07] Ambassador Waltz recounts his dramatic first week at the U.N., describing technical malfunctions during President Trump’s inaugural speech (escalator, teleprompter, microphone failures) and Trump’s resilience:
  • “Any other world leader, literally standing on the global stage, teleprompter goes down... What did President Trump do?... He just charged ahead. I think he’s better when he speaks from the heart and speaks off the cuff.” (Amb. Mike Waltz, [04:20])
  • Trump reiterated the U.N.’s foundational purpose: to prevent wars, reflecting on the distance it has strayed from its original charter.

2. Trump Doctrine at the U.N.: Prioritizing Peace & “America First”

• [06:25] Waltz details President Trump’s direction for a leaner, peace-oriented United Nations, rejecting what he calls “nonsense” — an excess focus on climate, gender, and social issues:
  • “Let’s get back to peace. And as the peace president, you know, he made it work.” (Amb. Mike Waltz, [04:58])
• Emphasis on “burden sharing”: urging other nations to contribute more, lessening U.S. financial and operational weight.

3. Actionable Reforms: Shrinking Bureaucracy & Redirecting Missions

• [08:58; 11:11] Waltz outlines a strategic withdrawal and defunding from U.N. agencies that either fail to serve U.S. interests or are plagued with inefficiency/corruption:
  • WHO (World Health Organization): Left due to COVID mismanagement and Chinese influence.
  • UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency): Defunded over Hamas infiltration.
  • Human Rights Councils that “cater” to hostile states: Exited these forums.
  • Climate agencies: Criticizes existence of seven different climate bodies.
• Results so far:
  • “The U.N. has already agreed to cut over 2,600 bureaucratic positions... a 15% overall budget cut, and a quarter — 25% — of its peacekeepers around the world.” (Amb. Mike Waltz, [11:11])

4. U.N. as a Forum for Diplomacy — and U.S. Leadership

• [11:57] Despite past calls to defund or exit the U.N., Waltz argues for targeted engagement:
  • U.N. remains the sole global forum where adversarial states can communicate diplomatically.
  • Vital American involvement in standard-setting (aviation, space, shipping) ensures alignment with U.S. (not China’s or Russia’s) interests:
    “I want everybody... aligned with our standards, not China or Russia’s standards.” (Amb. Mike Waltz, [10:24])

5. Burden Sharing in Practice: Haiti & Gaza

• [06:59] Case study: Haiti’s gang crisis
  • U.S. shifted lead responsibility for peace operations to a U.N. coalition (“Gang Suppression Force”) — U.S. now pays a quarter of prior costs, with Kenya and others contributing.
• Gaza: International force now keeps peace following President Trump’s peace plan, with U.N. “blessing.”

6. Personal Challenges at the U.N.

• [12:44] Waltz notes adversarial atmosphere at the U.N., full of countries often hostile to U.S. policy:
  • “There are days where I think that the tribes of the Middle East and Afghanistan are easier than here.” (Amb. Mike Waltz, [12:44])
  • Recalls dramatic moments, including disruptions from the Cuban ambassador.

7. Spotlight on Christian Persecution in Nigeria – With Nicki Minaj

• [14:00] Innovative advocacy: Pop star Nicki Minaj partners with Waltz to raise awareness about Christian persecution in Nigeria, leveraging her global influence on social media:
  • “It actually started with President Trump, who... put a spotlight on the persecution of Christians around the world. She replied as a Christian herself and thanked him.” (Amb. Mike Waltz, [14:09])
  • Hosted joint U.N. event with a Nigerian pastor recounting harrowing stories of violence and oppression. Nigerian government moved (albeit slowly) in response.
  • “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.” (Amb. Mike Waltz, [15:22])

8. Final Thoughts & Outlook

• [16:24] Waltz reiterates his mission:
  • “We’re swinging. We’re swinging hard. We’re going to clean it up and get it focused on the right things... We’re sharing the burden, pushing these countries in the right direction. But it’s all under [President Trump’s] leadership.” (Amb. Mike Waltz, [16:24])

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Notable Quotes

• “He just started charging right up the stairs. Any other world leader… he just charged ahead. I told him afterwards, I think he’s better when he speaks from the heart and speaks off the cuff.”
  — Ambassador Mike Waltz ([04:12])
• “Stop with all of the other nonsense… let’s get back to peace.”
  — Ambassador Mike Waltz ([04:55])
• “We’ve rebranded it to call it the Gang Suppression Force… given them much more of an offensive mandate.”
  — Ambassador Mike Waltz ([07:22])
• “It’s really about focusing our effort on the parts that align with an America first agenda and defunding and walking away from the rest of it. The nonsense.”
  — Ambassador Mike Waltz ([09:00])
• “I want that American led and in the United States, not in places like Beijing or Moscow.”
  — Ambassador Mike Waltz ([10:55])
• "There are days where I think that the tribes of the Middle east and Afghanistan are easier than here."
  — Ambassador Mike Waltz ([12:44])
• “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.”
  — Ambassador Mike Waltz, on Nicki Minaj partnership ([15:22])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [04:07] – Waltz recounts Trump’s first U.N. speech, technical mishaps, and the America First agenda
• [06:25] – U.N. reform strategies and “burden sharing” examples
• [08:58] – Walking away and defunding problematic U.N. agencies
• [11:11] – Initial reform: personnel and budget cuts at the U.N.
• [12:44] – Navigating hostility and adversaries at the U.N.
• [14:00] – Christian persecution in Nigeria, Nicki Minaj’s involvement
• [16:24] – Waltz’s closing outlook and affirmation of reforms

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Episode Summary

In this engaging conversation, Ambassador Mike Waltz shares how President Trump’s administration is actively reshaping the United Nations to serve its foundational purpose — global peace and security. The episode details concrete reforms: aggressive cutting of bureaucracy, exiting agencies contrary to U.S. interests, and championing burden sharing so America shoulders less of the load. Waltz describes the U.N. not as irredeemable but as an arena that, under strong U.S. leadership, can advance peace, set international standards, and spotlight issues like religious persecution, even with unlikely allies like Nicki Minaj. While progress comes with resistance and friction, Waltz remains committed to “swinging hard” to return the U.N. to relevance, in line with a distinctly America First foreign policy vision.

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Transcript

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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, nine, ten 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.

[Narrator/Announcer (John Bickley)]

That was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz 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.

[Ambassador Mike Waltz]

Under the President's direction, Waltz is taking a new aggressive approach to 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.

[Narrator/Announcer (John Bickley)]

In this episode, Daily Wire Editor in Chief Brent Scherr 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. I'm Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. This is a weekend edition of Morning Wire.

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[Interviewer/Host (Brent Scher)]

The smartest way to hire Ambassador Michael Waltz. So great having you with us. We've spoken to you 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?

[Ambassador Mike Waltz]

Yeah, I was literally standing right behind him when, when the, 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, 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, un, you have a lot of potential. You're supposed to be stopping wars, ending wars, preventing wars. That was the establishment of 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, you know, he made it work. But I gotta tell you, it was a heck of a. It was my second day on the job, Brett, and it was a heck of a second day.

[Interviewer/Host (Brent Scher)]

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 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. Of changing that? Do you guys still think that the UN can be a force for peace?

[Ambassador Mike Waltz]

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, 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.

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 US was trying to take it all on and on its own. It spent over a billion dollars. We've now Shifted that to the UN 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.

[Interviewer/Host (Brent Scher)]

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 co. The COVID pandemic.

Do you no longer think that defunding is an option? Should that be a threat?

[Ambassador Mike Waltz]

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, unwra, the UN agency in Gaza that's been completely infiltrated by Hamas. We walked out of and defunded that too. The so called human rights councils that 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 an America first agenda and defunding and walking away from the rest of it. The nonsense. Case in point. There's seven UN agencies focused on climate change. Like set 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, 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 in point, there is, there's an agency that regulates how we do space, telecommunications, global shipping. There's one that actually sets 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, 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 dojing. We've been reforming.

One other just statistic that I'll throw at you. We've been on the job a couple of months and obviously the President, the first year into 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, we're doging, we're going to get them back to basics in line with the President's vision.

[Interviewer/Host (Brent Scher)]

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.

[Ambassador Mike Waltz]

Yeah, look it again. We, we've got to clean it up and we've got a 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.

[Interviewer/Host (Brent Scher)]

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 dream. 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?

[Ambassador Mike Waltz]

You know, man, there are, there are days where I think that the tribes of the Middle east and Afghanistan are easier than here. You know, I'm a Green Beret by background. I've served all over the world. It isn't easy. My wife sometimes says I'm a masochist. But look, this is. This is the world stage right here in New York. 193 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.

[Interviewer/Host (Brent Scher)]

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 Nicki 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?

[Ambassador Mike Waltz]

Well, it won't surprise you, Brent. It actually started with President Trump, who, 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 or persecuted actually happens in Nigeria, six largest country in the world by population, largest in Africa. And he put a spotlight on it. She replied as a Christian herself and thanked him. And then I have to give credit where credit's due. At the suggestion of our friend Alex Brucewicz, he suggested 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 someone like her, with her quarter billion followers across all of our 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, in 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 persecutions of Christians, human trafficking or other issues that give voice to the voiceless.

[Interviewer/Host (Brent Scher)]

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 Waltz, this was so great to talk with you again. And we'll see what you're able to achieve at the United Nations. I'll take your word for it.

[Ambassador Mike Waltz]

All right, well, we're, we're swinging. We're swinging hard. We're going to clean it up and get it focused on, on, on the right things. And again, you know, the president's, what, nine, ten 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.

[Interviewer/Host (Brent Scher)]

Thank you.

[Narrator/Announcer (John Bickley)]

That was Daily Wire Editor in Chief Brent Scher speaking with U.S. ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz. This has been a weekend edition of Morning Wire.

[Interviewer/Host (Brent Scher)]

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[Ambassador Mike Waltz]

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