Mast Is a Terrible Choice for the Foreign Affairs Committee

Even by the standards of hawkish Republicans, he is an extremist.

The House Republicans’ Steering Committee chose one of their worst hardliners to be chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee:

House Republicans selected Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the 119th Congress, sources told The Hill, as the conference works to organize its panels for the next two years of Republican-controlled Washington.

According to Roll Call, Mast entered the running for the position late and beat out three more senior members. Mast had not been expected to win. One former Republican Congressional aide said, “I’m very, very surprised. I’m floored. I did not expect this and I did not speak to anyone that did.”

One possible reason for the surprised reaction is that Mast is a terrible choice to head the committee. Even by the standards of hawkish Republicans, he is an extremist. He has no business being in a position of leadership in Congress, and it is an indictment of Mast’s colleagues that they think he is a suitable choice. Trump reportedly lobbied members of the Steering Committee on Mast’s behalf to put him over the top, so it is an indictment of Trump’s judgment as well.

Mast has been one of the most despicable supporters of the war in Gaza. Among other things, he has sought to slow the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and claimed that there are “very few innocent Palestinian civilians.” He also said, “I don’t think we would so lightly throw around the term ‘innocent Nazi civilians’ during World War II.” Those remarks led some of his House colleagues to pursue a censure resolution against him, and he was condemned for his use of dehumanizing language. His selection to head Foreign Affairs is more proof that rabid anti-Palestinian views are no barrier to advancement in Congress.

Mast has also endorsed the destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure, and called for the abolition of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). When he was confronted about the deaths of Palestinian children in Gaza, he said, “These are not innocent Palestinian civilians.” As if to underscore how hardline he is in his support for the Israeli government, he has sometimes worn an IDF uniform in Congress.

Mast has an awful overall voting record. He has consistently opposed war powers resolutions on Yemen and Iran, and he has opposed repealing the 2001 and 2002 AUMFs. He has predictably been a reliable vote for throwing more money at the Pentagon every year. It is no surprise that he hated the nuclear deal with Iran and welcomed Trump’s terrible decision to renege on it.

Like other Iran hawks, he lied that the agreement provided “a clear pathway for Iran to expand its nuclear weapons program.” In 2021, he claimed that Trump’s maximum pressure campaign on Iran was “working” when it was backfiring and driving Iran to expand its nuclear program. Mast has participated in an outrageous smear campaign against an Iranian-American official. He also praised the assassination of Soleimani as “necessary and positive.” He wants to put the Houthis back on the Foreign Terrorist Organization list even though aid groups say that this would cause a humanitarian disaster in Yemen. On all these issues, Mast has shown himself to be a reflexive hawk with appalling judgment.

Any House Republican is going to be conventionally “pro-Israel” and generally hawkish. That’s regrettable, but it’s unavoidable. Mast is a fanatic and he should not be put in charge of any committee, much less one as important as Foreign Affairs.