Journalism of Courage
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed Kevin Rudd, the country’s ambassador to the US, after he was involved in a verbal showdown with Donald Trump in the White House.
On Monday, Trump told Rudd, who is also a former Australian Prime Minister, “I don’t like you” after the US President was told about the latter’s past comments about him.
Rudd, who was the PM of Australia between 2007 and 2010, and briefly again in 2013, was appointed as ambassador in 2023 for a four-year posting.
In the past, Rudd made several not-so-flattering comments about Trump on social media, most of which have since been deleted.
In a 2020 post, Rudd called Trump the “most destructive president in history” and a “traitor to the West”. In another post, he called Trump a “village idiot”.
Rudd was present in the White House during Albanese’s meeting with Trump, when the US President was asked about the Australian ambassador’s past comments.
Trump first asked whether the ambassador was still working for Australia before being told it was Rudd, who was in the room. “I don’t like you either,” Trump told him, as Rudd started to explain his side. “I don’t. And I probably never will.”
This was not the first time, Rudd’s comments have rubbed Trump the wrong way.
During the 2024 US presidential election campaign, Trump called Rudd “a little bit nasty” after being asked in a television interview with British politician Nigel Farage about Rudd’s social media posts.
On Monday, during a press conference, Albanese defended Rudd, saying he was doing a “fantastic job.” He also added that Trump told the ambassador that “all is forgiven”.
During a breakfast attended by several US politicians, Albanese once again defended Rudd.
“If there’s a harder-working ambassador on The Hill, then please let me know, because Kevin works his guts out and he seems to know everyone,” he told Republican and Democratic members of Congress at the event.
“It was pretty light-hearted, was what it was,” Albanese who was once Rudd’s deputy, said in a television interview with Australian broadcaster Nine in Washington on Tuesday.
“Kevin said, ‘Oh, sorry about comments in the past’, and they moved on,” he added.
