Greg Norman’s ‘behind the scenes’ talks with Donald Trump, Kevin Rudd
Australian sporting legend Greg Norman has reprised his role as a diplomatic go-between to Donald Trump, drawing praise from Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd.
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Australian sporting legend Greg Norman has reprised his role as a diplomatic go-between to Donald Trump, drawing praise from Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd.
The former world number one revealed he recently helped “quietly behind the scenes” as Dr Rudd and the Albanese government raced to shore up relations with his old golf buddy, having famously connected Malcolm Turnbull to the President when he was first elected.
In an exclusive interview, Norman described Mr Trump as “one of the most energetic human beings I’ve ever seen,” saying Australia and other countries could learn from his moves to take on “woke-ism” and secure the best deals for the US.
“I said to him when he first got elected … I said you became the rudder of a ship for these people out there in the Midwest who’ve never had a rudder before. I said, keep steering it in the right direction,” Norman said.
“I’ve spoken to him last week and I said to him: be true to yourself, stay the course of what you’re doing, the American people spoke … In the first couple of weeks, he seems like he’s doing that.”
Norman, who was honoured by Dr Rudd with an award at Australia’s US embassy, also revealed Mr Trump had been unsuccessfully lobbying him to become an American citizen after living in the US since 1982.
“If it’s needed, I’m there for both countries,” he said.
“If I’m asked from either side, I’m going to help as much as I possibly can.”
The ambassador praised Norman’s behind-the-scenes efforts to support the alliance.
“He’s always been there for those of who’ve occupied this position … to help reach out to the corporate and political leadership of this country. He’s done that with me,” Dr Rudd said.
Speaking about Mr Trump’s return to power, Norman hailed his “gutsy” call to overhaul the bureaucracy, saying he needed to “get the right people in there to do the right thing for you”.
He expressed his admiration for the “moxie” of Robert F Kennedy Jr, Mr Trump’s controversial pick to lead the US Health Department, saying the country would “be in a better place” if he was in charge of tackling the crisis of obesity, diabetes and chronic disease.
And he declared other countries like Australia needed to “sit back and take notice” of Mr Trump’s forceful leadership style, describing the coming months as “a very telling time”.
“The initiatives he’s done with DEI, the initiatives he’s done with woke-ism in this country, what he’s doing through education right now – is that the right thing? He believes in it,” Norman said.
“Is that the right thing for everybody? No. There are going to be people who are gonna disagree with you … I admire him for that.”
“You need to be that person who they’re going to be looking up to every day, to say I’ve got it, I’m out there for you, this is what I’m going to do.”
Norman also said there was an opportunity for “big brother to learn from little brother,” pointing to Australia’s “phenomenal job about protecting its borders” as a model for the US, as Mr Trump embarked upon bolstering border security and deporting illegal immigrants.
Having played golf with several presidents, Norman said Mr Trump was a competitor who was “good enough to beat you if you don’t watch your game”. He said the President was “very upbeat” when they spoke last week, although they had not played together recently.
“All of them that I’ve met, I’ve never seen anybody that has stars and stripes flowing through his veins like President Trump does,” Norman said.
Originally published as Greg Norman’s ‘behind the scenes’ talks with Donald Trump, Kevin Rudd
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