You don’t get to be PM without making a few “friends” along the way.
Paul Kelly is a deep state quisling.
The campaign to remove Rudd as “a ritual sacrifice before Trump has even said anything” is “part of Trump Appeasement Syndrome”. “This shows a contempt for Australian sovereignty and a craven weakness before Trump,” Kelly wrote this week. “For any Americans wasting their time following this saga, we must look a sad, pathetic little country.”
Peter Hartcher too.
If Australia seeks to appease Trump, why stop at sacking Rudd? We should make Gina Rinehart the minister for climate change, Bruce Lehrmann the minister for women, Clive Palmer the treasurer, Pauline Hanson the minister for immigration, Mark Latham the prime minister and Barnaby Joyce the governor-general.
Caroline Kennedy is the deep state.
As is Kurt Campbell.
Giving Rudd “great credit” for advancing Australia’s interests in Washington, Campbell said that Australia’s US ambassador operates almost like a “foreign minister in his or her own realm here in Washington”, speaking via videolink at a forum organised by the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre.
None of this is relevant or even an argument.
- Comparing Rudd to Gine Reinhart or Republican figures like JD Vance is a false analogy.
- The notion that Murdoch is gunning for Rudd is shooting the messenger.
- It isn’t “appeasing” Trump to recognise who the man is and to operate accordingly for maximum access and influence.
- That Rudd has operated well in Washington so far isn’t the point.
The argument against breaks down into three parts.
Can Rudd develop a relationship with Trump?
- Trump is a narcissist. These people neither forget nor forgive public humiliation.
- Rudd is widely regarded to be narcissistic, so ditto.
Is Rudd ideologically aligned against Trump?
- Trump is gunning for China. Rudd comes from a political party nominated by Xi Jinping as his favourite puppet government.
- Rudd has a PhD in Xi Jinping when it should be in Trump.
- Trump hates the “deep state” and is committed to its destruction. Rudd is pure deep state.
Can Rudd put aside these intrinsic challenges to be effective?
- See point one.
The alliance is probably strong enough to weather such difficulties. But why take the risk?
National interest plays second fiddle in the Canberra bubble, our own deep state.
