Australia ready to work with Trump, Vance if they win election, Rudd says

Milwaukee: One-time Donald Trump critic Kevin Rudd says Australia stands ready to work with the Republican candidate and his chosen running mate J.D. Vance if they win November’s election, denouncing the assassination attempt on Trump as a repugnant attack on democracy.

Speaking at the Republican National Convention, Australia’s ambassador to the US also revealed he has “what I’ve described as a texting relationship” with Vance, and had contacted the Ohio Senator after Trump was almost killed last Saturday to convey his concern about the shocking event.

Kevin Rudd, Australia’s ambassador to the US, at the Republican National Convention.Credit: X/@mewesterhout

Asked by this masthead what he thought of the 39-year-old Hillbilly Elegy author – a former “never Trump guy” who transformed into a full-throated MAGA loyalist on everything from abortion and election denialism, to military aide for Ukraine – Rudd replied: “That’s, of course, a matter for American domestic political opinion.

“But I’d say this: if the American people decide to elect President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, the Australian government stands ready to work with them, openly, constructively and positively. And we’re confident we can do that,” he added.

The comments came a day after Trump and Vance were formally endorsed as the Republican candidates for the White House, and mark the first time the former prime minister has publicly addressed the moment when Trump learnt about past comments Rudd made as an independent think tanker, in which he referred to the Republican as “nuts”, a “traitor to the west” and “the most destructive president in history”.

“He won’t be there long if that’s the case,” Trump had replied, when told about Rudd’s comments by former Brexit party leader Nigel Farage during an interview on Britain’s right-leaning GB News.

“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. But if, if he’s at all hostile, he will not be there long.”

Asked if he was concerned about his future in Washington if Trump becomes president again, Rudd said he did not wish to add to the issue, other than to say: “I think you’ll note that a whole range of people over time have had a range of interesting things to say about President Trump, including John Howard, including Tony Abbott, including others.”

“The bottom line is this: the job of an ambassador here is to engage with the full breadth of political opinion, both among Republicans and Democrats. So what I’ve been doing is be head-down-tail-up, really since I arrived about a year or so ago now, in engaging with the likely members of a future Trump administration.”

With four months until the election, opinion polls show a close race between Trump, 78, and Biden, 81, though Trump leads in several swing states that are likely to decide the outcome.

Former US President Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, appear on the first day of the Republican National Convention.Credit: AP

But as Biden continues to face ongoing scrutiny over his mental capacity, Rudd expressed confidence in the embattled president, who hosted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for a state visit at the White House last October and last week met with Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles at the NATO summit in Washington.

“From our perspective in Australia, and my perspective ambassador, he is discharging his responsibilities as president effectively,” he said.

Rudd is among dozens of diplomats currently in Milwaukee for the Republican convention, which capped off its first night with Trump receiving a hero’s welcome as he appeared in public for the first time since Saturday’s attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Sporting a bandage on his right ear, the former president looked almost emotional at times as the adoring crowd cheered while he walked to his private box to sit with his family and his new running mate.

At one point, Republican delegates began chanting “Fight! Fight! Fight!” echoing the words Trump shouted, his fist in the air, after he was almost killed.

In response to the attack, Rudd said: “The use of violence or the threatened use of violence in any democratic political event is not just repugnant. It’s the deepest level of assault on the entire notion of democracy.”

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