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November 7, 2024
Australia’s Ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd has quietly deleted comments from his social media which labelled Donald Trump “the most destructive president in history”, as pressure mounts for the controversial pick to be pulled from his high-profile posting.
Former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s appointment as US Ambassador, in 2022, came after he had described Trump as a “political liability”, a “problem for the world” and a “traitor to the west”.
In one tweet, from 2020, Rudd tore into the President for dragging “America and democracy through the mud”.
“The most destructive president in history,” Rudd wrote.
“He drags America and democracy through the mud. He thrives on fomenting, not healing, division. He abuses Christianity, church and bible to justify violence.
“All aided and abetted by Murdoch’s FoxNews Network in America which feeds this.”
Rudd deleted this tweet in the final stretch of the US Election campaign, as he faced calls to step down from the crucial role.
After Sky News revealed the tweet had been deleted, his office was forced to release a statement saying he removed it “out of respect for the office of President of the United States”.
“Following the election of President Trump, Ambassador Rudd has now removed these past commentaries from his personal website and social media channels,” the statement read.
“This has been done to eliminate the possibility of such comments being misconstrued as reflecting his positions as ambassador and by extension, the views of the Australian government.
“Ambassador Rudd looks forward to working with President Trump and his team to continue strengthening the US-Australia alliance.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who posted Rudd to the Washington post with full knowledge of his public criticisms, has also been personally critical of the incoming President in the past.
“We have an alliance with the US, we’ve got to deal with him, but that doesn’t mean that you’re uncritical about it,” Mr Albanese said in 2017.
"He scares the s*** out of me, and I think it's of some concern the leader of the free world thinks that you can conduct politics through 140 characters on Twitter overnight."
Asked if he would apologise for these previous remarks on Thursday, Mr Albanese said at a press conference he would not, but added he “looked forward” to working with Trump.
“I have demonstrated, I think, my ability to work with world leaders and to develop relationships with them which are positive, he said.
He also defended Mr Rudd's appointment and said the former prime minister was doing a "terrific job" as ambassador.
President-elect Trump responded to Rudd’s insults earlier in the year, describing him as “nasty” and “not the brightest bulb” in an interview with Nigel Farage.
“I don’t know much about him. If he’s at all hostile, he will not be there long,” Trump said in March.
Sky News sent the Prime Minister's office several detailed questions but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
The Prime Minister has faced calls to withdraw Rudd and replace him with a less controversial pick.
Shadow environment minister Jonathon Duniam told Sky News earlier this week that he failed to understand how it was possible for Ambassador Rudd to keep his job.
"I'm not sure how his tenure is guaranteed, how it's possible for him to carry on as our representative in that country, liaising with the leader of that country and with Donald Trump," he said.
"If we are to have the best prospect of actually ensuring that we have strong relations with the US, I'm not sure how Mr Rudd could stay there.
"Anyone that hasn't gone around slagging off the putative president of the US is probably going to be a good appointment.
"I just can't see how this Labor government can reconcile what Kevin Rudd has said previously with what we expect an ambassador to be able to achieve with the US administration, with a president like Donald Trump."
This morning, shadow home affairs minister James Paterson said it was up to the Albanese government to demonstrate how Rudd was still “the right choice”.
“It’s very important that the Albanese government demonstrate that they can work in Australia’s national interest with the US administration, which from January 20 onwards will be headed by President Trump and the Republican Party,” he said.
“I think it is unfortunate that the Prime Minister and some senior ministers in his government have made really injudicious comments in the past about President Trump.
“It’s hard to see how that was ever in our national interest, and you’re right of course that Kevin Rudd has also said some pretty strong things when he was a private citizen.
“They’ve got to demonstrate that Kevin Rudd was the right choice for a country that could always have re-elected President Trump.
“And that he’s able to work constructively with the administration and congress to secure the very important things in the US-Australia relationship that Australia needs at an incredibly uncertain time in global history.
“And we will judge them on their ability to do that.”
Even though Rudd once thought President-elect Trump was a destructive traitor, his recent public commentary has been more positive.
“The policy line is sharper and clearer than it was last time round,” Rudd said in July.
“The bottom line is you see greater discipline in the Trump campaign than you did back then.”
Rudd’s fresh attempt to appear neutral does not appear to have worked.
Lara Trump told Sky News last week that it would be “hard” for a person who had criticised her father-in-law to hold the ambassador position.
“It's kind of hard to have a position like that where you'd want to keep someone who said such nasty things about a person,” she told Sky News host Erin Molan.
"I do think it would be nice to have a person who appreciates all that Donald Trump has gone through to want to serve our country at this moment."
Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell revealed on Sunday the Albanese government has ruled out any immediate changes to the ambassadorship.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong also said this morning the relationship between Australia and the United States was "bigger than any individual or past comments".
“Kevin Rudd's been an excellent Ambassador. He's delivered an enormous amount for Australia, and I have great confidence that he'll continue to do so,” she told Sunrise.
The Prime Minister congratulated Trump on his election victory last night.
“Congratulations to President Donald Trump on his election victory,” Mr Albanese said.
“Australians and Americans are great friends and true allies. Working together, we can ensure the partnership between our nations and peoples remains strong into the future.”
