United States Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz says President Donald Trump is directing him to steer the group back to its original mission: peace.
In an interview with the Daily Wire editor-in-chief Brent Scher, Waltz laid out how his new role at the United Nations advances President Trump’s unapologetic America First approach to international diplomacy in a body that he claims has been ineffective.
“You’re supposed to be stopping wars, ending wars, preventing wars,” Waltz said. “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.”
While critics have advocated that the United States abandon the UN, Waltz said the organization can be salvaged if it implements the reforms at the top of his agenda. According to Waltz, the UN is a mechanism to get other countries to start “pulling their weight” to establish peace. As an example, he cited the efforts to combat the gangs in Haiti, shifting from a primarily United States-led effort to include other countries such as Kenya.
“Sharing the burden and having a mechanism where everyone can come in and do that is also important,” he said. “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.”
Waltz also stressed that certain UN agencies and programs need to be defunded when they do not align with American interests.
“We walked away from WHO, the World Health Organization. UNRWA, the UN agency in Gaza that’s been completely infiltrated by Hamas. We walked out of it 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,” he said. “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.”
Waltz added that there are also far too many UN agencies focused on climate change.
“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,” Waltz said.
Among the agencies he believes are essential, he cited telecommunications, global shipping, and civil aviation.
“When I land, when flying internationally, I want everybody speaking English,” he said. “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.”
Overall, Waltz emphasized the UN’s importance as a platform for countries to discuss diplomacy.
“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,” he said. “ 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 to clean house.”
Of the successes so far under the Trump administration, Waltz says the UN agreed to cut over 2,600 bureaucratic positions, a 15% overall budget cut, and 25% of its peacekeepers around the world.
“So we’re cutting, we’re DOGE-ing, we’re going to get them back to basics in line with the president’s vision.”
“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,” Waltz said.
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Waltz said a major focus is ensuring that the United Nations does more to stop the persecution of Christians around the world.
“Well, it actually started with President Trump, who put a spotlight on the persecution of Christians around the world, but according to most NGOs, 80% of Christians that are killed and persecuted actually happens in Nigeria,” he said.
Waltz praised rapper Nicki Minaj for advocating to stop the persecution of Christians in Nigeria alongside him in the UN last month.
Thrilled to be Honorary Ambassador to the Barbz! @NICKIMINAJ pic.twitter.com/Sq9OHYhaZu
— Ambassador Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) November 19, 2025
“Someone like her, with her quarter billion followers across all of our platforms. It’s an unlikely pairing. I 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.”
Waltz acknowledged that representing the United States at the UN can be challenging, given the presence of adversarial countries, including an incident in which the Cuban ambassador disrupted one of his speeches and accused him of lying.
“There are times where I think the tribes in the Middle East, Afghanistan are easier than here,” Waltz said. “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 the world stage right here in New York.”
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