Don’t look now, but Donald Trump has become Albo’s secret weapon

Now, any perfectly sensible thing Peter Dutton says about cutting government waste or shutting down lunatic DEI programs can be shut down simply by yelling, ‘Trump! Trump! Trump!’ writes James Morrow.

To borrow an old line about God, if Donald Trump did not exist then Anthony Albanese would have to invent him.

Because with three and a bit weeks to go before polling day, the arrival of Donald Trump and the market chaos following his “Liberation Day” tariffs on the scene has been manna from heaven for Labor.

Now, every question of Labor’s economic management can be shut down with one simple word: Trump.

Recession coming? Trump!

Australian dollar in a death dive towards the fifty cent mark? Trump!

And the best part is, anything good that comes of Trump’s policies to rebalance global trading markets, well, Labor can take all the credit.

Every question of Labor’s economic management can be shut down with one simple word: Trump. Picture: AP

Hence Treasurer Jim Chalmers cheerily talking up the possibility of a half-per cent rate cut at the RBA’s next meeting Monday afternoon.

Dr Chalmers’ strong implication was that this would not be due to the need to restimulate the local economy in the midst of a global trade war, but instead because of his own superior economic management.

But as they say on the TV ads, wait, there’s more.

The mere existence of Trump now also gives Labor an anchor to tie around the Coalition’s neck.

With Trump in the frame, any perfectly sensible thing Peter Dutton says about cutting government waste or shutting down lunatic DEI programs or fighting on any front of the culture wars can be shut down simply by yelling, “Trump! Trump! Trump!”

It has already has been whispered that the relative silence of Jacinta Price, who was one of the Coalition’s greatest assets during the “No” campaign against the Voice, is because campaign strategists are worried her association with “government efficiency” is now seen as too Trump-ish and on the nose.

If Donald Trump did not exist then Anthony Albanese would have to invent him. Picture: Jason Edwards / NewsWire

And there is no doubt Labor campaign HQ has been co-ordinating the messaging on this.

On Saturday assistant immigration minister Matt Thistlethwaite told Sky’s Kieran Gilbert that “there is concern in the wider community about Trump style policies being implemented in Australia, and I’m getting that when I’m door knocking and campaigning, particularly for people who are worried that Peter Dutton could potentially go down that road.”

The next day aged care minister Anika Wells was on with Andrew Clennell, who bailed her up on Labor’s trying to paint Dutton as Dickson’s answer to Donald Trump.

“I’ve been door knocking in my electorate in 3 different suburbs this week, and it’s not a tactic of mine. It’s something people are saying to me on the doors,” she said.

“They see it, people spot the mimicking of policies. They see Peter Dutton’s frontbench trying to replicate that here. They’re not for it. They’re worried about it. They don’t want that coming here.

Extraordinary, isn’t it, that in the middle of what is supposed to be a cost of living crisis punters are now bailing up ministers to talk about Trump, but here we are.

Seen through the lens of politics, it makes sense.

Labor’s trying to paint Dutton as Dickson’s answer to Donald Trump. Picture Thomas Lisson / NewsWire

But as with so much associated with Labor once you get past the politics there’s not a lot of substance, and screaming “Trump” doesn’t do anything in the long run to offer solutions.

As with every scare campaign, if Labor keeps smashing the Trump button it will eventually cease to function.

And none of this will go to solve any of the fundamental problems that make the current world of tariffs and counter-tariffs so dangerous for Australia.

Don’t forget that the number one target for Trump in all this is China and the way it has manipulated its own currency to flood markets in America and elsewhere with unreasonably cheap goods.

This was always unsustainable and it was always going to lead to a crisis one way or another.

Yet instead of recognising what was happening, the “handsome boy” Albanese has kowtowed to China, bragging of getting Australian wine and lobsters on Shanghai dinner tables without thinking about the risk of growing exposure to this one very volatile market.

Even without the resumption of trade barriers (which Xi Jinping is happy to raise and lower as he sees fit) a prolonged downturn in the Chinese economy would be a massive hit to Australia.

One study by the RBA suggested that for every percentage point hit to GDP in China, Australia’s GDP would drop by, potentially, as much as half a per cent.

Meanwhile on the campaign trail Labor has thrown any thought of economic caution to the wind, dropping billions in promises every day on everything from household batteries to mental health without any real thought of how to pay off the looming trillion dollar debt.

The only problem is, when the bill comes due, it won’t be so easy to blame it on … well, you know.

Originally published as Don’t look now, but Donald Trump has become Albo’s secret weapon