#268 Mike Waltz - Special Forces Green Beret Turned UN Ambassador Warns About China

The Shawn Ryan Show

Shawn Ryan Show

Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.9 • 38.1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 January 2026

⏱️ 144 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mike Waltz is an American politician, diplomat, author, businessman, and retired U.S. Army Colonel, a combat-decorated Green Beret with 27 years of military service and the first retired Special Forces officer elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Born in Florida, to a family steeped in military tradition as the son and grandson of Navy Chiefs, Waltz graduated from Stanton College Preparatory School in Jacksonville, Florida, before attending Virginia Military Institute (VMI), earning a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in 1996. Commissioned as an Army lieutenant upon graduation, he excelled by graduating from elite Ranger School and selection for the Green Berets, deploying worldwide on multiple combat tours to Afghanistan (starting in 2000), the Middle East, and Africa, while serving in the Pentagon under Secretaries Rumsfeld and Gates and as a counterterrorism advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney. Waltz served three terms as Republican Congressman from Florida’s 6th District (2019–2025), resigning to become National Security Advisor in President Trump’s second administration (January–May 2025) before his September 2025 Senate confirmation as the 32nd U.S. Representative to the United Nations, where he currently serves. A successful business owner, he co-founded Metis Solutions, a strategy and intelligence firm that grew to hundreds of employees worldwide and was acquired for $92 million; he authored the bestseller Warrior Diplomat recounting his military and policy experiences, along with Hard Truths on Green Beret leadership, with proceeds benefiting veterans’ charities, and he continues media commentary on defense and foreign policy. Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code SRS to turn $5 into $300 in bonus bets if your bet wins—see full terms and responsible gaming resources at https://dkng.co/audio. Go to https://drinkag1.com/SRS to get their best offer—plus, for a limited time, receive a FREE AG1 duffel bag and FREE AG1 Welcome Kit with your first subscription order (while supplies last). Sign up and get 10% off at https://betterhelp.com/srs. #ad Get 27% off sitewide at https://helixsleep.com/SRS, exclusive for listeners of the Shawn Ryan Show—enter our show name after checkout! Mike Waltz Links: X - https://x.com/michaelgwaltz IG - https://www.instagram.com/michaelgwaltz Warrior Diplomat - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1612346316 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Ambassador Mike Walsh.
0:07.0	Welcome to the show.
0:09.0	Honored to be with you, man.
0:11.0	I'm so proud of you and what you've done with this platform, what you're doing with it.
0:16.0	Really honored to be here.
0:18.0	That means a hull of a lot coming from you.
0:20.0	Thank you. Thanks. And it's an honor to have you here. So yeah, uh, it's, it's been a heck of a year.
0:28.7	I'll bet it has. I'll bet it has. But, uh, man, uh, like, congratulations to you too. I mean, you know,
0:36.5	uh, very interesting interesting breakfast but growing up
0:41.6	you know jacksonville jacksonville florida i mean sounds like he came from damn near nothing yep
0:48.2	and green beret congressman entrepreneur ambassador of the u.n national security advisor. I mean, holy shit, dude,
0:58.1	it's impressive. It's quite the arc. You know, it's been a blessing. It's, it sounds cliche,
1:04.5	but I mean it only in this country, the most amazing country the world has ever seen.
1:11.6	I think I was telling you at breakfast that there was this moment.
1:15.6	I grew up in the west side of Jacksonville, which is the kind of, definitely the poor
1:21.6	side of town, one of the poorer side of town, big Navy town, grandfather was in the Navy, father was in the Navy. I obviously
1:29.9	defected and went army. But there was this moment a couple of years in the Congress during the
1:36.2	presidential campaign, and I'm standing up on this big stage, thousands of people, the mayor of
1:41.9	Jacksonville had just walked off, and President Trump's rolling in with Air Force One, like literally boss move rolling in in the backdrop.
1:52.5	And we're on this Navy base, Cecil Field in Jacksonville. And I'm looking out at the PX where my grandmother and I used to go to buy her cigarettes because they were, you know, they were subsidized back then. And like, I mean, you know, look out and see my mother, um, who literally my dad, when I was an infant, just went out to see and we never saw him again. I mean, he just left her and left us.
2:19.8	Oh, shit.
2:20.8	Yeah.
	...

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