New York Waiter Asks Trump’s U.N. Ambassador, ‘How Is a War… Helping Me in Any Way?’

U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz sat for a CNN town hall about the ongoing war on Iran, and fielded a pointed question from a New York waiter.

President Donald Trump and his administration have faced unceasing questions about his decision to launch the war, which began on Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran. The administration has offered nearly a dozen justifications for the war, but appears to be especially emphasizing the alleged nuclear threat that Iran posed. That rationale is at odds with comments Trump made after joint U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last year, which the president said at the time were “totally obliterated.”

During the town hall on Friday, moderator Dana Bash introduced a questioner in the audience named Santiago Porras Ruiz, who she said is a full-time college student and a waiter who is active in local Democratic politics.

He told Waltz:

Good evening. I’m a waiter at a local restaurant in Queens, a full-time college student who sleeps an average of four hours a night and is still thousands in debt. How is a war in a country half the world away funded by the taxes pulled from my check helping me in any way?

“Yeah, it’s, look, it’s a, it’s a valid, and it’s a tough question,” the ambassador replied. “I know for certain. And if we just look at the things the president has put in place in terms of housing and big corporations that are buying up whole neighborhoods, the tax cuts that he extended with the big, beautiful bill, the energy policies that we’re putting in place to not only make us self-sufficient, but to, you know, lessen these dependencies and lower prices, even lowering prescription drug prices.”

Waltz went on to say Trump is “absolutely focused on what you’re seeing day in and day out that’s affecting your pocketbook.”

He then pivoted to the war.

“At the same time, as commander in chief, he has to weigh the risks and make the tough decisions, facing some hard truths,” Waltz said. “We cannot have a world with a genocidal terroristic regime that holds not only your generation, but the next generation hostage with nuclear weapons. And, you know, those are the tough calls that the American people elected him to make.”

Earlier in the day, the president said on Truth Social that he is “considering winding down” the war, though thousands of U.S. Marines are headed to the region for a potential ground operation. Moreover, the Department of Defense is reportedly seeking $200 billion in supplemental funding for the war.

Watch above via CNN.

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