Ambassador Kevin Rudd talks up his relationship with Trump’s VP pick Vance, slams Tenacious D Trump comment

US Ambassador Kevin Rudd, speaking on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention, batted away speculation his earlier criticism of Donald Trump could jeopardise his job after the November election.

Kevin Rudd with Republican congressman Michael Waltz and Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Robert O’Brien.

Kevin Rudd has urged governments around the world to “chill out” about the increasingly likely prospect of a second Trump administration, declaring Australia’s relationship with the US would remain strong and positive whatever the outcome in November.

Speaking to Joe Hockey on Sky News from the floor of the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Ambassador Rudd said he was telling “many ambassadors in Washington [that] it’s really important to chill, just chill”, amid a surge in concern among US allies a Trump administration could see the US abrogate its role as world policeman.

“If instead you think, my God, this is beyond the pale, and reach for your smelling salts, well, you know something that’s going to cruel you from day one … I say a lot, to the euros along these lines, which is chill bill,” he said on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST).

Mr Rudd has been on a charm offensive seeking to broaden and deepen his Republican contacts in recent months as polls suggest Mr Trump was likely to defeat Joe Biden in November, especially in the wake of the president’s disastrous debate performance last month and his recent near brush with death from would-be assassin’s bullet last week in Pennsylvania.

“The really good thing about the United States is brand Australia is in good working order, and therefore we are in a good position to work with whichever party is elected,” Mr Rudd told Sky.

“If the American people vote for Donald Trump and for JD Vance, the Australian government, led by Anthony Albanese, will be in there, working hard, positively, constructively, with incoming Republic administration for day one as it has been in the past”.

At a press conference earlier in the day Mr Rudd talked up his contact with Ohio Senator JD Vance, whom Mr Trump selected as his Vice Presidential running mate a day earlier, prompting fears the young MAGA-loyalist would shift US foreign policy in an isolationist direction.

“I certainly conveyed to him [Vance] my comments immediately following the assassination attempt on Saturday,” Mr Rudd said, revealing he’d established a “texting relationship” with Senator Vance.

“In terms of qualities he brings to this office that’s, of course, a matter for American domestic political opinion, something which, as an ambassador, I don’t propose to engage in”.

Mr Rudd also played down any impact his previous disparaging comments about Mr Trump made before he became ambassador, where he accused the former president of “rancid treachery”, being “nuts” and the “most destructive president in history.

“A whole range of people had a range of interesting things to say about President Trump, including John Howard, including Tony Abbott, including others,” Mr Rudd said in his first public remarks since Mr Trump was made aware of his comments in an interview with Nigel Farage back in March.

“What I’ve been doing is just head down, tail up, really, since I arrived about a year or so ago, engaging with the likely members of a future Trump administration,” Mr Rudd said.

“I think you’ll find there’s a there’s a wide fabric of relationships between myself as ambassador and a vast array of individuals who would be likely to form a nucleus of incoming Trump administration”.

Congressman from Florida’s 6th District Michael Waltz with his wife Dr Julia Nesheiwat and Australia’s ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd.

Asked to weigh on the debate about Joe Biden’s future, the former Labor prime minister would only say that based on his observations of Biden up close at last week’s NATO summit in Washington, that the president was “discharging his responsibilities effectively”.

“The open question of politics is, what happens in the next three months or so? You and I both know a week’s a long time in politics, very long three months is an eternity,” he said.

He also told reporters that Tenacious D members should “grow up and find a decent job”, following a supposed joke band member Kyle Gass made at a concert in Sydney over the weekend where he said he’d hoped Trump had been killed.

“That someone would joke about violence just makes me physically ill,” Mr Rudd said, following reports Gass had said “don’t miss Trump next time” when asked at a concert for his birthday wish. The band has since apologised and cancelled the rest of their Australian tour amid calls for the comedy rock duo to be deported.