logo
Mike Waltz: From the Battlefield to the Halls of Congress

Mike Waltz: From the Battlefield to the Halls of Congress

Mike Waltz isn't your typical politician. He's not someone who always dreamed of wearing a suit in Washington or chasing the spotlight. Before anything else, he's a soldier. A dad. A guy who knows what it's like to lead men in combat and lose sleep over decisions that truly matter.
Born and raised in Florida, Waltz grew up believing in service. That belief led him to the Virginia Military Institute and eventually into the U.S. Army, where he became a Green Beret. He didn't just serve—he led missions in some of the toughest corners of the world, including Afghanistan. He's been in the fight, literally. That kind of experience doesn't fade; it shapes who you are and how you lead.
When Waltz talks about national security or supporting veterans, it's not just talking points—it's personal. He's been there. He knows what it means to put on the uniform and what families go through back home. That's part of why he ran for Congress. He wanted to bring a voice to Washington that understood both the costs of war and the importance of keeping America safe.
But Waltz isn't just about defense and foreign policy. He's also a small business owner, a dad to a young daughter, and someone who's deeply invested in what kind of country we're building for the next generation. Whether it's education, the economy, or standing up to threats from abroad, he sees it all through the lens of someone who's lived the consequences of leadership—good and bad.
He's a Republican who leans into strong values, but he also pushes for common-sense solutions. In a Congress that often feels stuck in political theater, Waltz comes across as someone who still believes in doing the work. He's not flashy, but he's focused. He believes in grit, preparation, and never backing down from a challenge—traits he picked up in the military and carried with him into public office.
At the end of the day, Mike Waltz is a reminder that not all leaders come from boardrooms or political dynasties. Some come from the dirt, the dust, and the danger of serving something bigger than themselves. For Waltz, the mission may have changed—from battlefield to Congress—but the purpose hasn't.
TIME BUSINESS NEWS

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Brevard County election 2025 results for Florida Senate District 19, House District 32
Brevard County election 2025 results for Florida Senate District 19, House District 32

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

Brevard County election 2025 results for Florida Senate District 19, House District 32

Who are the winners and losers in the June 10, 2025, Brevard County special election? Voters in Brevard County cast ballots with their picks in the Florida Senate District 19 and Florida House District 32 races. The winners of the April 1 Republican primary election faced Democratic candidates in Tuesday's special general election. The Florida Senate District 19 election will fill the seat left vacant by Randy Fine, who resigned to run for Congress representing the Daytona Beach area. Primary winner Republican Debbie Mayfield faced Democrat Vance Ahrens. Florida's House District 32 seat was vacated by Debbie Mayfield, who is seeking to return to the Florida Senate after being term-limited out and winning this seat in November. The Florida Supreme Court ruled that she was eligible to once again seek her former Senate seat in the special election. Republican Brian Hodgers won the primary and faced Democrat Juan Hinojosa in the special general election. ➤ Dig Deeper: Ultimate voter guide to Brevard County June 10, 2025, special general elections Follow along below for the latest election results, continually updated until all ballots are counted. Polls close at 7 p.m. local time. Any voters waiting in line at 7 p.m. will have the opportunity to cast a ballot. Use the Brevard County voter information look-up to check your voter registration and party status. To find your Brevard County polling place, check the voter precinct look-up or your voter information card. To see a sample ballot for your Brevard County precinct, check the county elections office website. Support local journalism by subscribing to Florida Today. This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard County election results: Florida D19, House D32

Afghan refugee office is a corrupt failure — Trump is right to shut it down
Afghan refugee office is a corrupt failure — Trump is right to shut it down

New York Post

timean hour ago

  • New York Post

Afghan refugee office is a corrupt failure — Trump is right to shut it down

After three years and more than $5 billion, the State Department is finally closing down a program that ushered thousands of poorly vetted Afghans into the United States — from a nation known to harbor deadly terrorist operatives. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently informed Congress he will close the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts office, which brought to America more than 200,000 Afghan nationals who qualified for Special Immigrant Visas and the United States Refugee Program. But the American public, and especially our veterans of the 20-year war in Afghanistan, deserve to know the truth: CARE and the whole enterprise known as 'Enduring Welcome' failed in its basic mission — to ensure that only those Afghans who served honorably alongside Americans were welcomed into this country. Under former President Joe Biden, CARE became another dangerous and irresponsible open-border migration project, dramatically failing to make America safer, stronger or more prosperous. After his disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Biden created the CARE office to assist Afghans who cooperated with the US mission in that country. The intent was to grant safe haven to Afghans who had put their lives in danger by working or partnering with the US military or American diplomats. Yet, as Americans well know from the disaster at the nation's southern border, senior Biden officials never cared about seriously screening any US-bound migrants, no matter their origin. Over four years, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken pursued one overriding migration priority: thwarting the law to admit millions of foreigners. Thus, the CARE office became just another pathway for Biden's open-border extremism. Multiple State Department whistleblowers have documented how CARE authorized the admission of countless Afghans who neither worked for the United States nor demonstrated a legitimate fear of the Taliban. These unqualified Afghans were allowed to bypass vetting rules and perpetrate identity fraud to gain a place in line with deserving applicants. They systematically fabricated recommendation letters, identity cards, employment records and other documents — while unscrupulous CARE contractors, many of Afghan heritage themselves, handed out special favors to extended-family members and other undeserving applicants who only wanted a free ticket from a clueless Uncle Sam. On paper, all applicants claimed fear of Taliban reprisals. Yet some who were approved later traveled back to Afghanistan — belying their claims, and in some cases hinting at active Taliban connections. Others departed Afghanistan with apparent ease, flying out of Taliban-controlled airports and crossing Taliban-guarded land borders. Like the rest of Biden's government, CARE made a mishmash of authenticating applicants' entry claims. Biden officials disregarded normal security name-checking procedures to speed up processing, whistleblowers have told Congress. For example, CARE directed case managers to push along files in which an applicant's name appeared to match a suspect in official terrorist and criminal databases. Keep up with today's most important news Stay up on the very latest with Evening Update. Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters Because the Taliban does not cooperate with US authorities, these cases are almost impossible to resolve. Normal vetting procedures require such applicants to be rejected — but under Biden they were admitted into the country. Worse, Afghan nationals who recently entered the United States have attempted acts of terrorism. Last year, two Afghans were stopped before they could execute plans to kill Americans at polling stations in Oklahoma City on Election Day. In April another Afghan, stopped by police officers in Virginia, drew a handgun — and would have killed those officers had they not fired first. Mainstream media outlets have mostly ignored the fraud, corruption and vulnerabilities that infected CARE. When they report on it at all, they do so with the naïve assumption that every Afghan is who he or she claims to be. Shawn VanDiver of the group Afghan Evac and some other US military veterans want President Donald Trump to accept half a million or more Afghan immigrants — continuing, in effect, Biden's open-border mania. Activists claim that deserving Afghans are still languishing in their home country, and accuse Trump of abandoning America's allies. Certainly, some Afghans bravely assisted our military and diplomats over years of fighting. Many of them, no doubt, were in genuine fear of the Taliban. But that small number of Afghans was admitted months, and in some cases years, ago. The original mission of the CARE office and Enduring Welcome was a noble cause that all Americans could rally behind. Three years later, that effort has been revealed to be replete with fraud, waste and pervasive corruption. Most importantly, the CARE enterprise has imported threats to the United States and imperiled American lives. Trump is protecting America by shutting down CARE and halting any further arrivals of unvetted Afghans into our country. Phillip Linderman is a board member of the Center for Immigration Studies and chairman of the Ben Franklin Fellowship.

House panel demands records of over 200 NGOs that nabbed billions of taxpayer dollars to ‘fuel' border crisis
House panel demands records of over 200 NGOs that nabbed billions of taxpayer dollars to ‘fuel' border crisis

New York Post

timean hour ago

  • New York Post

House panel demands records of over 200 NGOs that nabbed billions of taxpayer dollars to ‘fuel' border crisis

WASHINGTON — A House Republican panel is demanding records from more than 200 non-governmental organizations that nabbed billions of dollars in taxpayers' money to settle migrants in the US under ex-President Joe Biden. One of the targeted groups is among those embroiled in the anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) and Subcommittee Chairman Josh Breechen (R-Okla.) fired off letters to the 215 organizations Tuesday, accusing each of having 'helped fuel the worst border crisis in our nation's history.' 5 House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) fired off letters to 215 non-governmental organizations Tuesday accusing them of having 'helped fuel the worst border crisis in our nation's history.' Bloomberg via Getty Images The powerful Republican chairman and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee leader said the groups created a 'pull factor' in providing taxpayer-funded transportation, translation, housing and other services to migrants, most of whom were released into the country after crossing the border illegally. 'The Committee remains deeply concerned that NGOs that receive U.S. taxpayer dollars benefitted from the border crisis created by the Biden Administration, and stand ready to do so under future Democrat administrations,' Green and Breechen wrote, citing a 'near-total lack of accountability' for how the money was spent. They also noted that they are investigating how much the funding incentivized 'human trafficking and smuggling' operations as well as whether the 'NGOs are now actively advising illegal aliens on how to avoid and impede law enforcement officials.' 5 The ICE crackdown in Los Angeles rounded up convicted sexual abusers, drug dealers and gang members to put into removal proceedings, federal officials said. REUTERS One of the groups, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), took nearly $1 million in DHS grants to 'offer both citizenship instruction and naturalization application services to lawful permanent residents' starting in 2021. Its last tranche of funding was yanked by the Trump administration in March. CHIRLA organized a rally Thursday to denounce the ICE arrests of illegal immigrants in Los Angeles before protests devolved into full-blown riots that destroyed property and led to the assaults of federal law enforcement. 'We have not participated, coordinated, or been part of the protests being registered in Los Angeles other than the press conference and rally,' a CHIRLA rep previously told The Post in a statement. The group did not respond to a Post request for comment Tuesday. The ICE crackdown in the city rounded up convicted sexual abusers, drug dealers and gang members to put into removal proceedings, DHS officials said. 5 'The committee remains deeply concerned that NGOs that receive U.S. taxpayer dollars benefitted from the border crisis created by the Biden Administration,' Green wrote. REUTERS Southwest Key Programs, another group being probed by Green's panel, was the largest housing nonprofit for unaccompanied migrant kids who entered the US and took around $3 billion in taxpayer funding from Biden's Health and Human Services — before Trump officials pulled the plug in March. Between 2021 and 2023, Southwest Key's top five executives saw their salaries inflated on average from $420,000 to $720,000 — even as the organization outspent its revenue by millions of dollars. The Justice Department sued Southwest Key Programs in July 2024, alleging that some supervisors and employees had committed 'severe' and 'pervasive' rape and sex abuse against kids between 2015 and 2023. The civil suit was dropped by the DOJ in March 2025, the same month that Trump's HHS cut off federal funding for the organization. 5 Green led the GOP charge in the House to impeach former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. AP Southwest Key 'strongly denied the claims relating to child sexual abuse in our shelters,' a rep previously said. The group did not respond to a Post request for comment Tuesday. Of the more than 550,000 migrant kids who entered the country between February 2021 and January 2025, at least 291,000 were released from federal custody to domestic sponsors — thousands of whom have since been flagged as sex abusers or gang members — and 32,000 went missing entirely, according to an August 2024 report from DHS's inspector general. On average, 2.4 million immigrants entered the US every year between 2021 and 2024, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Roughly 60% crossed the border illegally, a Goldman Sachs analysis found. DHS subagencies such as ICE and the Federal Emergency Management Agency were tapped to 'coordinate with nonprofit organizations that provide services such as food, shelter, and transportation' for those non-citizens who were released, according to a Government Accountability Office report in April 2023. 5 President Trump pulled taxpayer funding for many immigration NGOs after returning to the White House. AP A March 2023 DHS Office of Inspector General audit revealed that 'more than half' of FEMA funding that went to NGOs couldn't be accounted for, Green notes in his letter. The GOP leader has previously called out $81 million in possibly 'illegal' funds that helped cover migrant stays in luxury New York City hotels. Conservative immigration groups have previously estimated that the influx of migrants cost New York City residents as much as $10 billion and bilked US taxpayers up to $150 billion in 2023, the year when illegal border crossings reached their highest level in recorded history. Green led the GOP charge in the House to impeach former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for allegedly failing to comply with federal immigration law and lying to Congress that the border was 'secure.' The Republican missive requests the total dollar amount of federal grants, contracts or payments received by the NGOs between Jan. 19, 2021, and Jan. 20, 2025. It also demands to know whether any organization sued the feds and what services it provided to migrants. Influential left-leaning groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International and the Southern Poverty Law Center have all been asked to respond to the queries.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store