Many Australians – including a fair few readers of this masthead – question the need for a Trump meeting. They wonder why we should indulge a man whom many find to be crass, a bully, a narcissist and a villain on the world stage.
He might well be those things, but he’s also the president of the United States – the most powerful nation and biggest economy in the world, and supposedly our most important ally. The idea we should just pretend he’s not there doesn’t really fly in the real world.
Marine One carrying US President Donald Trump arrives in downtown New York on Monday.Credit: AP
Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister Matt Thistlethwaite made a valiant attempt to spin the lack of a meeting as a “good thing” because it showed there were no trade problems the president felt compelled to address.
That’s a bit like saying we should be thankful Trump hasn’t called us into the principal’s office.
It’s true that Trump has bigger fish to fry. He is trying to resolve the war between Russia and Ukraine (albeit in uniquely Trumpian fashion), dealing with the Middle East and soliciting mega-investments in the US from every corner of the globe. His schedule is packed.
But it was not so long ago that Labor was talking up the prospects of a Trump meeting. Perhaps Albanese was the victim of another scheduling conflict, with the Charlie Kirk memorial taking Trump to Arizona on a day they could have met.
President Donald Trump embraces Erika Kirk at a memorial for conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Arizona on Monday.Credit: AP
Still, it feels like, whatever the circumstances, Trump should have made time for those folks Down Under by now. Snub me once, shame on you. Snub me twice …
It’s also time to query the role played by Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd. We know that senior people in the White House have not forgotten his disparaging tweets about Trump from years ago.
Rudd works extremely hard, as all Australians would recall, and has cultivated strong relationships on both sides of the aisle. That includes senior members of the administration. But when it comes to Trump, it’s becoming more evident that maybe the times do not suit him.
Australian ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd attends a business reception in Seattle in June.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Loading
From what I have picked up in the White House, there does not seem to be any fundamental problem with Australia or the government. Indeed, Trump has spoken with Albanese by phone four times, and told me on multiple occasions that Albanese is a “good man”.
But this does not seem to be translating into a seat at the table. And that’s a problem.
