Kevin Rudd’s embarrassing Trump U-turn as Albo’s US Ambassador is made to eat his own words – with President’s shock re-election victory now looming
He has labeled Donald Trump “crazy” and the “most destructive president in history.”
But former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, now US ambassador to Australia, is desperately trying to build bridges with Trump’s team ahead of the ex-president’s possible re-election in November.
Mr Rudd reportedly told a forum in Davos last week that there was “some danger of overestimating the extent of the damage Mr Trump had done during his presidency.”
The remarkable turnaround comes after Mr Rudd previously trashed the former Apprentice star’s tenure.
“The most destructive president in history,” Rudd wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in June 2020.
Kevin Rudd, the US ambassador to Australia, is desperately trying to build bridges with Trump’s team as he looks increasingly likely to secure the Republican nomination and face a rematch against current US President Joe Biden (Mr. Rudd is pictured with current US President Joe Biden)
Trump is notoriously thin and vindictive. Many political commentators believe Rudd will not survive if the likely Republican nominee is elected in November
‘He is dragging America and democracy through the mud. He thrives on stoking division, not healing it.
“He abuses Christianity, the church and the Bible to justify violence.”
In February 2022, a year before Anthony Albanese appointed him US ambassador, the former Labor leader accused Trump of ‘rancid treason’.
“Donald Trump is a traitor to the West,” he wrote.
But now Trump is looking for a shoo-in for the Republican nomination to cope current American president Joe Biden in November, Mr Rudd changed his tune.
Mr Rudd is now furiously reversing his strident stance and cultivating relationships with senior Republican figures.
“These are fairly normal relationships and there’s a broader set of Republican relationships… that I’ve built over the decades, including many people who have privately indicated to me that they would return to work in a Trump administration,” Mr Rudd told it News Corp.
Mr Rudd has previously not held back in his sharp criticism of Mr Trump (photo)
“In terms of the Australian government’s ability to manage the relationship with whoever wins the next election, Republican or Democrat, we are well equipped for that task.”
However, many political commentators believe that Mr Rudd’s time in Washington is limited and that he will not survive a second Trump presidency.
Last week, Sky News presenter Andrew Bolt told the ambassador to ‘get ready to pack your bags’.
“How can Rudd ask Trump for favors for Australia when that sensitive braggart knows how freely Rudd has spread him around the world?” Bolt said wrote.
He accused Mr Rudd of having ‘poor judgement’.
‘You could write Trump off as a violent madman and revenger who was done. That is a serious underestimate,” he wrote.
The former Australian prime minister (pictured) reportedly told a forum in Davos last week that there was “some danger in exaggerating the extent of the damage Trump had done during his presidency.”
‘No, the rise of Trump must mean the fall of Rudd. What a bad decision by the Albanians to appoint this joker.’
This view is echoed by Lincoln Parker, chairman of the Liberal Party for Defense and National Security Policy, who said this network Mr Rudd will have to go if Mr Trump is re-elected because they go together like ‘oil and water’.
“If the Australian government wants to communicate effectively with a Trump administration, they will need to find a new Australian ambassador in Washington DC,” Parker said.
“Kevin Rudd will have to go and maybe go back to the role he had at the Asia Society because that’s not a good mix.”
But there are those who believe Rudd will survive if Trump re-enters the White House in November.
Joe Hockey, the US ambassador to Australia during Trump’s presidency, told the Australian that Rudd’s tough stance on China would appeal to a Republican government.
“I think if Donald Trump is elected, on day one he will have a long list of people he wants to take revenge against. And Kevin Rudd is not one of them,” Mr Hockey said.
“His credentials as a China hawk will outweigh the criticism he previously had (of Mr. Trump) and he has also reached out to all sides of the Republican Party, that’s the truth.”
Perhaps in an oblique reference to the way his past comments continue to haunt him, Mr Rudd acknowledged that there will always be “disagreements” between diplomats and governments.
‘That is the normal course of diplomacy. Usually we only conduct them privately,” he told News Corp.
Mr Rudd said he was willing to meet Mr Trump but admitted he had not taken a direct approach.
“The last thing you want as a candidate is to waste your time with a bunch of well-meaning foreign diplomats,” he said.