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Why a rock star is trending amid Mike Waltz war plan leak. It's not Bob Dylan
The embattled Republican has a surprising connection with Scott Stapp, who came into the limelight amid Waltz's Signal scandal.
Mike Waltz recently caused an uproar after accidentally leaking war plans. On Tuesday, the National Security Advisor inadvertently added The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a Donald Trump administration Signal group chat discussing a military strike against the Houthis. Amid the backlash surrounding his blunder, a rock star began trending online. But why?
The embattled Republican has a surprising connection with Scott Stapp, who came into the limelight amid Waltz's Signal scandal. This is because the 51-year-old singer, who is the frontman of the famed rock band Creed, is Waltz's brother-in-law. The shocking piece of trivia was posted by CNN’s Andrew Kaczysnki in an X post that read, “Worth noting that Mike Waltz’s brother-in-law is the lead singer of Creed.”
How is Mike Waltz related to Creed's frontman Scott Stapp?
Waltz's relation with Stapp comes through his wife, Dr Julia Nesheiwat, who served as Trump's Homeland Security Advisor from 2020 to 2021. The army veteran's sister, Jaclyn, is married to the rock singer. However, they filed for divorce last year, ending their 18-year marriage, according to People.
However, Stapp and Waltz seemingly share a bond as the former performed at fundraisers for Waltz during his time as a Florida congressman, per Florida Politics. As the family connection was uncovered amid the outrage over leaked war plans, social media users were quick to turn the whole thing into a meme.
Kaczynski replied to his own X post, which has garnered 1.2 million views so far, with, “Creed is good by the way.” Netizens followed suit with jokes about Waltz's Signal controversy by tweaking the lyrics to Creed's hit tracks like With Arms Wide Open, Higher, and One Last Breath. “They’re accepting anyone into their signal chat with arms wide open,” one user wrote.
Journalist Robby Soave quipped, “With chats wide open Welcome to this place, I'll show you everything With chats wide open If I had just one wish, only one demand I hope Jeff's not like me, I hope he understands That he can take this thread and publish in his mag And he can greet the world with chats wide open...”
