High Steaks: Ex-US ambassador Arthur Sinodinos on the ‘coronation of King Trump’

Arthur Sinodinos was Australia’s ambassador to the US when Trump was president for the first time. Now, in a High Steaks interview, Sinodinos reveals what the world can expect. Watch it here.

Two assassination attempts, a geriatric candidate replaced at the eleventh hour, celebrity concerts and a city on edge for election night — it was and always will be a culture shock for former Australian ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos, who is used to the Australian way of marking democracy — with a poll-day sausage and general air of nonchalance.

“It’s a circus, it’s a huge circus,” Sinodinos, who served as ambassador for the tail-end of the first Donald Trump presidency, says over a classic New York bagel on The Sunday Telegraph’s very first virtual High Steaks from Washington DC.

The former Liberal Senator was Australia’s ambassador to the US between 2020 and 2023, covering the tumultuous Covid years and the January 6 riots when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building denouncing Joe Biden’s win.

“There are some days in Washington where you feel like you have got to put on a clown suit to go to work because you’re just part of this big show, it’s the greatest show on earth,” he says of the city he calls home in his current role as chair of the Australia Practice at advisory firm The Asia Group.

The show ended spectacularly with a historic comeback for Republican Donald Trump over Kamala Harris and Sinodinos had front-row seats to history.

Former Australian ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos outside a Washington bagel shop.

A classic New York bagel with cream cheese for Arthur Sinodinos. Pictures: Supplied

“On the day itself, it was a bit tense. Places were boarded up, people were worried,” he said.

“Around the White House there were all sorts of wires and fences put up … no one was taking any chances”.

Sinodinos saw Donald Trump 1.0 and his prediction for the polarising political figure’s return is that he will rule like a king and not like a president.

“If Trump gets the Congress, which seems likely, it gives him capacity to have almost untrammelled legislative authority on top of having the White House,” he said.

“His second time around is a bit more like we are having a coronation rather than just an inauguration of a president.

“That’s how he is acting, he is acting more in some ways like a king or an emperor.”

Sinodinos with US President Joe Biden. Picture: Supplied

But while he’s confident a triumphant Trump will seek to have “legacy issues”, his biggest legacy will be the comeback itself — a relief for those fearing the unpredictable leader would seek to up-end America as they know it.

“Given his age and everything else, he’s not necessarily going to be as active as some people think,” he says.

“He will look for legacy issues … Russia-Ukraine, clearly he wants to solve that sooner rather than later.

“He’ll do tariffs, he’ll do tax cuts.”

Sinodinos thinks Trump is unlikely to take further action on abortion laws — an issue he tiptoed around during the election campaign.

“He’s a political animal, he realises the issue is a bit like kryptonite … I’d be really surprised if he does something really ideological on this.”

It’s an approach the former Liberal hopes Australian politicians will follow, praising Peter Dutton’s instincts to direct his party room to steer clear of abortion laws ahead of the next federal election after the Queensland Liberals became embroiled in the issue.

“Social issues like that, to the extent they have been settled, should be left alone,” he said.

“They become distractions from the bread-and-butter issues that more Australians are worrying about every day.”

Sinodinos with Donald Trump during his first presidency. Picture: Supplied

For Trump, the mellowing on abortion laws and other ideological fights could come down to the woman advising him, America’s first female presidential chief of staff Susie Wiles.

“She’s good at managing and understanding him … I’m still hopeful she can be a bit of a positive channeller of Trumpian energy,” he says of Wiles, who ran Trump’s campaign.

Her presence might be even more crucial to counter Trump’s closeness to billionaire backer Elon Musk, who has previously been enemy number one for the Australian government.

The X owner’s relationship with the Labor government is complicated with Anthony Albanese labelling him an “arrogant billionaire” and Musk calling the Albanese government “fascists” over the issue of social media censorship.

That skirmish with Trump’s new right-hand man might complicate matters for Australian ambassador Kevin Rudd, who himself has a lengthy history of criticising the new President.

Sinodinos and his wife Elizabeth Sinodinos attend the G’Day USA Arts Gala in 2023. Picture: Getty Images

Sinodinos thinks Rudd could survive — but it would require Albanese to cement his relationship with Washington.

No easy feat after a video of Albanese saying Trump “scares the shit out of me” resurfaced in recent weeks.

“The important relationship is between the President and the Prime Minister … that’s the important relationship,” he says.

“You don’t have to love each other individually, but you have to be able to get on in the national interest.”

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