‘Shut up’: Host blows up at Turnbull

Malcolm Turnbull has hit back over his blow up with US President Donald Trump, while a Today show host has given her 10 cents.

Malcolm Turnbull has vowed to “speak the truth” on Donald Trump’s threat to the world in a fiery interview as Australia’s tariff exemption hang in the balance.

During an interview this morning on RN Breakfast an unrepentant Mr Turnbull clashed with host Sally Sara who told him not to “put words in my mouth” after he accused the ABC of being “pusillanimous” — showing a lack of courage or determination.

“Is that really the state that we’ve got to? Surely we should be free to speak the truth,” he said.

“Or are we going to muzzle our service for fear of offending Mr Trump? I mean, really, Sally, is this where we’ve got that we’ve become, you know, is the ABC become so pusillanimous that you’re seriously suggesting that we shouldn’t be free to speak the truth in Australia, for fear of Donald Trump.

“Is that the depths you’ve sunk to? I believe in Australia and I believe in standing up for Australia and I think, I’m sorry, apparently you don’t.”

The host responded by saying “Don’t put words in my mouth with respect, it’s my job to ask questions about your comments.”

Speaking on the Today show, host Sarah Abo wondered if it wasn’t time for Mr Turnbull to just shut up.

“Here we were worried about Trump. When it turns out Malcolm Turnbull might be the one. The death knell here,” she said.

Sarah Abo raised concerns that the intervention had some at the worst possible time. Picture: Channel 9

“I mean, honestly, former prime ministers just need to shut up. I mean, Julia Gillard comes to mind. Even Tony Abbott’s been pretty quiet. They need to (shut up).”

Abo raised concerns that the intervention had come at the worst possible time during an interview with Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth and Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie on Tuesday morning.

“It’s not his (Mr Turnbull’s) role to meddle here. He got the deal done when he was in government,” Abo told Ms McKenzie.

“There’s one person that can get this done and it’s not sending your whipping boy Jim Chalmers over last week. It is actually about getting on the plane and getting this done. There are over 100,000 jobs. Sarah, that rely on our steel and aluminium works,” Ms McKenzie responded.

Hitting back, Ms Rishworth replied: “Bridget, to suggest we’re not taking that seriously is completely disingenuous. The Prime Minister is working hard, along with all our government.”

“Yeah he’s working hard, working the phones,” Ms McKenzie interjected, suggesting the Prime Minister should “get on a plane” to the US to discuss the tariffs.

Turnbull has vowed to speak the truth. Picture: Bloomberg

Turnbull’s extraordinary interview

In an extraordinary interview on the ABC’s 7:30 program on Monday night, Mr Turnbull warned Australia shouldn’t “suck up” to Mr Trump and accused political leaders of gaslighting voters over the threat he posed to the world.

There are now fears that the fallout could hit the March 25 budget, amid Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ warning that “we’ve got a lot at stake as Australians” amid escalating trade tensions around the world.

“I mean, the reality is – if you suck up to bullies, whether it is global affairs, or in the playground, you just get more bullying,’’ Mr Turnbull said.

“And unfortunately, you know, we are now seeing somebody that is utterly unconstrained. And if the advice is to go and suck up to him, well, where does that get you?

“I mean, are we just going to become just a conga line of sycophants creeping through the White House, paying homage to this guy and telling him he’s a genius?

“It’s ludicrous! I mean, the leaders of other countries, particularly friendly countries, are among the few people that can speak truth to Trump because he can’t sack them.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has warned that ‘we’ve got a lot at stake as Australians’. Picture: NewsWire/John Gass

March 25 budget under pressure

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and the Reserve Bank have warned the Australian economy is at risk from the escalating global trade war after the US President vowed to introduce reciprocal tariffs on top of the steel and aluminium tariffs for “friend or foe” on April 2.

The steel tariffs are scheduled to apply from this week unless negotiators can cut a deal. Former PM and US ambassador Kevin Rudd held talks this week that proved fruitless for now.

Senior government sources concede they don’t know if Mr Trump will offer an exemption but say Mr Turnbull’s intervention was poorly-timed.

Trump slams Turnbull as ‘weak, ineffective’

Earlier, Mr Trump slammed Mr Turnbull on social media on Monday after the former Australian prime minister warned the United States’ poor treatment of its allies was providing “an opportunity” for Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“Malcolm Turnbull, the former prime minister of Australia who was always leading that wonderful country from ‘behind’, never understood what was going on in China, nor did he have the capacity to do so,” Mr Trump wrote in a post to his own social media platform Truth Social on Sunday evening (Monday AEDT).

“I always thought he was a weak and ineffective leader and, obviously, Australian’s [sic] agreed with me.”

Mr Trump slammed Mr Turnbull on social media on Monday after the former Australian prime minister warned the United States’ poor treatment of its allies was providing “an opportunity” for Chinese President Xi Jinping Picture: Win McNamee/Pool/AP

Malcolm Turnbull unleashes on Donald Trump

The Trump social media post appears to be in retaliation for Mr Turnbull’s appearance in an interview on Bloomberg television, where he argued the United States was an increasingly unreliable ally.

An unrepentant Mr Turnbull then accused the US President of trying to “extort allies” as he unloaded on his “harassing and bullying” behaviour.

“Well, I do not believe that you should give in to bullies, right?’’ he said.

Mr Turnbull warned the situation ‘has changed’.

“Trump wants people to suck up to him, and to be sycophantic. And I have dealt with Trump in the past. I mean, you know, the fact is – I stood up to Trump, and got him to do things he didn’t want to do, because I wasn’t being bullied by him.

“Most of the people, pretty much all of the people I’ve seen, international leaders, that have sucked up to Trump and been sycophants, have been run over.

Mr Turnbull said the situation was unprecedented.

“Look around us. The impact that Trump is having on the world, on the Western alliance, on markets, on our economies – I mean, these are matters that we have to talk about,’’ he said.

“We cannot continue this bipartisan gaslighting that is going on at the moment where there are these massive changes in Washington affecting us and the whole world.

“I mean, look at the extraordinary treatment of Canada.

“Efforts to basically cripple Canada’s economy in order to bully them into becoming the 51st state.

“This is all unprecedented, but yet, if you look at our political leaders – there’s nothing wrong with AUKUS, everything is fine, the relationship is fine, nothing has changed! Well, it has changed.”

Mr Turnbull then accused the US President of trying to “extort allies. Picture: Stefan Postles/Getty

Mr Turnbull said he would not stay silent on the issue despite concerns it might impact tariff negotiations.

“All of this erratic behaviour will be taken advantage of by China, because what China will do is they will say – they’ll be the opposite of Trump, where Trump is erratic, they’ll be consistent,’’ he said.

“Where Trump is rude and abusive … they’ll be respectful. They’ll play a very different game to what they did in the first Trump Administration.

“So you know, look, he’s actively helping Putin in Ukraine, and perhaps not deliberately, but effectively he’s helping Xi Jinping.”

“You know, where people are trying to be friends with both sides, if Trump abuses them, seeks to bully them, puts crippling tariffs on them, they will naturally edge closer to China – of course, they will.”

However, Mr Turnbull clarified he obviously did not include Australia in that group, who might lean towards China.

Bad for business

Mr Turnbull said if Mr Trump triggered a global wave of protectionism, it would clearly be “bad for business.”

“Trump seems to have a view that America can prosper at the expense of everybody else,’’ Mr Turnbull told Bloomberg TV.

“That’s not going to work, that’s what they tried at the time of the Great Depression.

“You’ve had tariffs going on, going off, going back on again, and then, you know, this uncertainty is, you know, better than anyone at Bloomberg is hitting the markets too.

“It’s bad for business.”

But Mr Turnbull warned it was different this time around under Trump 2.0.

“You know, he’s surrounded by yes men, supporters. In the first Trump administration, he didn’t really expect to win,’’ he said.

“He wasn’t really prepared. He hired a lot of people that were not from his camp, or his MAGA movement, and they were trying to steer him in more conventional directions, but, you know, he hasn’t got that restraint now, so you’re seeing a much more undiluted Donald Trump, second time around.”

“This is a very different United States. Trump does not subscribe to the same values that we have in the past shared with America. Doesn’t care about treaties or alliances. You know, he’s got a free-trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, which he entered into, I thought he signed it, and he’s just walked away from that. So I think we’ve got to work out how we are going to defend ourselves and how we will pursue a more independent, independent of the United States approach to international and security affairs.”

Mr Turnbull did secure a tariff exemption the first time around but was pessimistic about Australia’s chances this time.

“I mean, the government is using exactly the same arguments I used in 2018, namely, that Trump has a surplus with Australia,’’ he said.

“He’s got a free trade deal with Australia. But I think the argument saying that the promise of the aluminium export volumes was broken, well, I didn’t give you that promise. So aluminium was barely mentioned in my time. All the focus was on steel. Aluminium was just a footnote. But apparently, when (Scott) Morrison was Prime Minister, the Americans had noticed aluminium exports from Australia were increasing, and Scott gave some kind of undertaking that they, you know.”

Deputy PM: ‘Australian exemption makes sense’

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said he was still advocating for a reprieve.

“We’ve been advocating very forcefully to the Trump administration about why it makes sense for there to be a carve-out for Australian steel and aluminium, Australian exports in general,” Mr Marles told Sky News.

“Our two-way trade with the United States is very much in the United States’ favour.

“It makes sense that all of this is tariff free. And indeed, to the extent that we do provide exports to the United States, that’s supporting US jobs.

“Now that’s an argument that we’ve been making with the US administration.”

Originally published as ‘Shut up’: Host blows up at Turnbull