‘Nasty’: Donald Trump unleashes on Kevin Rudd
Donald Trump has sledged Australia’s ambassador Kevin Rudd as “nasty” and predicted he “won’t be there long” if he defeats Joe Biden.
Former US president Donald Trump has sledged Australia’s ambassador Kevin Rudd as “nasty” and predicted he “won’t be there long” if he defeats Joe Biden in this year’s US election.
In an extraordinary attack on the former prime minister, Mr Trump has suggested he would refuse to work with him if he was re-elected after hearing Mr Rudd had previously described Mr Trump as “nuts” and “the most destructive president in history”.
In an interview to air on Sky News Australia, conservative British politician Nigel Farage asked Mr Trump if he knew that Australia’s ambassador to the US had said “the most horrible things” about him.
“He won’t be there long if that’s the case,” the former president said.
“I don’t know much about him. I heard he was a little bit nasty. I hear he’s not the brightest bulb, but I don’t know much about him. If he’s at all hostile, he will not be there long.”
Mr Rudd has reportedly been winding back his criticism of Mr Trump amid predictions he is set to return to the White House.
But just three years ago he unloaded on the Republican on social media.
“The most destructive president in history,” Mr Rudd wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in June 2020.
“He drags America and democracy through the mud. He thrives on fomenting, not healing, division.
“He abuses Christianity, church and bible to justify violence.”
In 2017, he declared the then American president to be “nuts” and warned that China could step into a potential regional power vacuum.
“I think the general consensus amongst anyone concerned with a public policy process, domestic or international, thinks he’s nuts,” Mr Rudd said on the ABC’s QandA.
In February 2022, a year before Anthony Albanese appointed him US ambassador, the former Labor leader accused Mr Trump of “rancid treachery”.
“Donald Trump is a traitor to the West,” he wrote.
A former adviser to Mr Trump recently warned that the former US President was well aware of Mr Rudd.
Steve Bannon served as a chief White House strategist under the Trump administration after the 2016 election.
“Ambassador Rudd should know we got his number,” Mr Bannon told Sky News’ Sharri Markson.
“For people in the United States, folks in Australia should know, Rudd puts himself out as the expert in the world on China and the Chinese Communist Party.
“I think he’s been dead wrong so many times.
“He is trying to worm his way back into the good graces. He’s been very critical of President Trump in the past.”
Trump & Farage: The Interview will air on Sky News tonight (20 March) in full at 8.30pm AEDT, available to watch online with a SkyNews.com.au Streaming Subscription, or on TV through Foxtel or Sky News Regional.
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