Trump chooses Elise Stefanik as ambassador to the United Nations
- 12 Nov 2024
President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Rep. Elise Stefanik to serve as his ambassador to the United Nations, picking a loyal ally with little foreign policy experience to represent the US at the international organisation.
"Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,” Trump said in a statement on Monday announcing his pick for the role – his first selection that will require Senate confirmation.
Stefanik, 40, who serves as House Republican Conference Chair, has long been one of Trump's most loyal allies in the House, and was among those discussed as a potential vice presidential choice.
She will be thrown into the world body’s deep divisions from the wars in the Mideast and Ukraine to reining in nuclear programmes in North Korea and Iran.
She will also come face-to-face almost daily in the UN Security Council with the ambassadors of Russia and China whose countries are now strongly allied and looking warily at a second Trump presidency – and sometimes with their counterparts from North Korea and Iran.
Stefanik will succeed US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a career diplomat and former assistant secretary of state for Africa who has held the job through the entire Biden administration and has been a member of his Cabinet. Stefanik also will be a member of Trump's Cabinet, he said in the statement.
In Trump’s first administration, he chose former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who had little foreign experience except for some trade missions, for the UN post. She resigned after two years and then challenged Trump for the GOP nomination. Haley was succeeded by then US ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft, wife of a Kentucky coal magnate, who in 2023 was unsuccessful in her bid for the GOP nomination for governor of the state.
'2024 version of Haley'
John Bolton, a former US national security adviser under Trump and ambassador to the U.N. during the Bush administration, told The Associated Press that he sees Stefanik as the 2024 version of Haley.
"She wants to run for president in 2028. She realises she has no foreign policy experience so what better way than to become UN ambassador,” Bolton said. "She stays two years, and then away we go.”
Born and raised in upstate New York, Stefanik graduated from Harvard and worked in former President George W. Bush’s White House on the domestic policy council and in the chief of staff’s office.
Rising star
In 2014, at 30, she became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, representing upstate New York. She later became the youngest woman to serve in House leadership.
Stefanik was known early in her tenure as a more moderate conservative voice. But she soon attached herself to the former president, quietly remaking her image into that of a staunch MAGA ally – and seeing her power ascend.
She became the House Republican Conference Chair in 2021.
Stefanik spent years positioning herself as one of Trump’s most trusted allies and confidantes on the Hill. She endorsed him in the 2024 race before he had even launched his bid, and aggressively campaigned on his behalf during the GOP primary.
She saw her profile rise after her aggressive questioning of a trio of university presidents over anti-Semitism on their campuses led to two of their resignations – a performance Trump repeatedly praised.
She also defended him vigorously in both of his impeachment trials and railed against his four criminal indictments, including filing an ethics complaint in New York against the judge who heard his civil fraud case.
Hardcore loyalist
While she is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and serves on the coveted House committee that oversees national intelligence, her pick further solidifies Trump’s preference for unconditional loyalty in his second administration over career experience.
One area of foreign policy that Stefanik has been vocal about is Israel.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Stefanik has focused much of her attention on the United Nations, accusing the world body and international organisations of anti-Semitism for their criticism of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, which has resulted in the death of more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to their Health Ministry.
She has gone as far as calling last month for a "complete reassessment” of US funding for the United Nations, while helping push for the blocking of American support for the UN agency that provides humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the region.
Her departure for the United Nations would also mean that Republicans, who are on track to have a razor-thin majority in the House, would be down one crucial vote. But Stefanik’s district is located in a deeply red part of upstate New York, where Republicans are likely guaranteed to win the special election that would take place after she leaves office.
"Republicans will hold this safe Republican seat as part of a Republican majority in the House that will help deliver on President Trump’s historic mandate,” Ed Cox, the chair of the New York Republican party, said in a statement on Monday.
Trump did not say much about the UN during his campaign, but has generally advocated for a less interventionist foreign policy. He also has repeatedly questioned the utility of international alliances, including NATO, and he has threatened allies with higher tariffs and said he will not protect them unless they contribute more to their own defence.
Trump also has talked about how he initially wanted to select his eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, for the role after he was elected the first time.
"'You would be a great ambassador to the United Nations, United Nations secretary.' There’d be nobody to compete with her, I tell you,” he said at a Moms for Liberty Summit in August. "She may be my daughter, but nobody could have competed with her."
Associated Press
