Kevin Rudd’s historic Donald Trump comments resurface as Albanese government backs in US ambassador

Kevin Rudd’s history of disparaging Donald Trump has been thrust back into the limelight, as the Australian government denies a diplomatic firestorm is looming.

Old comments made by Mr Rudd resurfaced this week, prompting the Republican presidential nominee to threaten to push the US ambassador out if re-elected.

In an interview this week with Nigel Farage on GB News, Mr Trump was quizzed on how he would work with Mr Rudd – who had previously labelled the former president “destructive” and a “traitor to the west” – if re-elected.

Mr Trump hit back, describing Mr Rudd as “nasty” and “not the brightest bulb”, and suggested the ambassador “won’t be there long” if he wins this year’s presidential race.

It made waves in the US and in Australia, with the federal opposition calling into question Mr Rudd’s viability during parliament.

Mr Rudd, who joined a number of US-based think tanks after leaving politics before becoming a diplomat, has not commented on the interview publicly, but the Australian government has backed him in.

A dossier of historic comments made by Mr Rudd about Mr Trump aired on Sky News’ Sharri on Thursday, revealing a number of times the former prime minister disparaged Mr Trump.

At an address to the Oxford Union in 2017, early on in Mr Trump’s first term as president, Mr Rudd described Mr Trump as a “problem” for Australia, and the world more broadly.

“Trump at present represents a political liability for both sides of Australian politics,” Mr Rudd said.

“This guy is a problem. He is an objective problem, for the world, for the region, for my country.”

During the address, Mr Rudd also suggested the Republican Party should act to remove Mr Trump from office.

“I believe things are, so precarious on these questions that the Republican Party, which enabled this guy to be elected, have a deep responsibility, a deep responsibility to accept responsibility for the consequence of their actions and begin the processes for one form or another of his removal by constitutional means,” he said.

In a 2018 address to Asia Society, the Washington-based think tank he headed up, Mr Rudd took aim at Mr Trump’s foreign policy positions, calling into question his abilities.

“Donald, as we know, is not, a leading intellectual force,” Mr Rudd said at the time.

In 2019, Mr Rudd took a swipe at Mr Trump’s supporters during an address to the Cambridge University Union, labelling them “angry white men”.

Mr Trump’s comments this week has lead to mounting concerns about how effective Australia’s representation in Washington will be if Mr Rudd remains ambassador during a second Trump White House.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles on Friday declared “Kevin is doing a great job on behalf of Australia”.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton on Thursday said the “onus was on Mr Rudd to repair the relationship” with Mr Trump.

“It was a captains call and he would have know about all the risks. … Anthony knew all of the risks that he was facing when he decided to appoint Kevin it would have been against the advice of a lot of his colleagues. But he made that he made the decision we respect that,” Mr Dutton said.

“Well, if you’ve got an administration who says that they can’t work with a particular ambassador, then you know the history of those people being recalled and I suppose the onus is on Mr. Rudd, now to repair the relationship”