KT McFarland to Newsmax: Trump Looking for World Changes Quickly

President-elect Donald Trump's first major appointments center around national security, showing he'll "look very early on to make major changes on the world scene," former deputy national security adviser KT McFarland said Wednesday on Newsmax.

"In a transition, normally the jobs that are are appointed first are secretary of the Treasury, secretary of State, [or] Commerce," McFarland said on "Wake Up America." "In this case, President Trump has gone to the national security world, the people who are going to be advising him on the national security issues."

Among Trump's appointments, he selected Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., as national security adviser; Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense; John Ratcliffe to head the CIA; Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., as ambassador to the United Nations; Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel; and Tom Homan as "border czar" to handle immigration.

McFarland said she thinks Trump's changes on the world scene will include negotiations on Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as "interesting conversations with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping of China."

She added that it's "really telling" that Trump has been appointing people he knows well and has been talking to for years, so there "no unknowns" in his second administration.

"Everyone that he's chosen understands what their role is," McFarland said. "Their role is not to overrule President Trump. Their role is not to be smarter than President Trump."

Many of Trump's first-term appointees, she added, did not agree with him and thought they "should be running the country. That didn't work out too well."

McFarland said that Trump is making smart choices with his appointments.

"Mike Waltz is an awesome choice," she said. "He's wicked smart. He's got combat experience. He's a decorated Army officer. He was the first Green Beret in Congress, and he's also an 'America first' guy, and he had the courage to step up to the establishment, the Republicans establishment, as well as the Democrats in Washington as well as the defense industrial complex. So this guy has courage beyond belief and integrity. I think he's going to be just an awesome choice for President Trump. And I think he'll work very, very well with the other cabinet officers."

Hegseth, a Fox News host, is also highly qualified to head up the Defense Department, said McFarland, responding to attacks in the media claiming he is not a good choice.

"They don't want to talk about the fact that Pete has gone to Harvard, and he went to Princeton, and he's a combat veteran, and he knows about how the military works," said McFarland. "He knows what it's like to be on the ground in those situations. He's not some think tank guy who's never walked the walk that he's talking."

McFarland also commented on the relationship the United States will have with Israel when Trump takes office.

"I think it's going to be very close," she said. "President Trump knows Bibi Netanyahu very well himself. So does Mike Huckabee. So I think that what will happen is that President Trump has said publicly, he said to Israel, finish the job, just do it quickly."

Huckabee, meanwhile, is well-regarded in Israel.

"There's a plaque on the Jordan River, there's a little olive tree that was planted, [about] 30 years ago, and it's a plaque in honor of Mike Huckabee, who was rebaptized at the Jordan River at the same place that John the Baptist baptized Jesus," McFarland said. "So Mike's relationship with Israel isn't just political. It's not just military. He goes way back spiritually."

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