Monday’s press conference in the Oval Office, when Donald Trump brutally humiliated Australia’s 26th Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, was no accidental diplomatic gaffe.
It was the manifestation of a deeper decay: the departure of honor from public life.
Rudd’s appointment as Australia’s Ambassador to the United States was always problematic. Before taking the post, he had publicly labelled Trump ‘the most destructive President in history’ and a ‘traitor to the West’. Even if Rudd really believed this (it could have been simply moral posturing for the media), to say it out loud and then pretend to diplomatic ambition was not a good idea.
Rudd’s running commentary on Trump was always fated to sink him.
The gap between his words and actions is yawning. If the President is a ‘village idiot’ or ‘traitor to the West’, how could Rudd credibly aspire to sit at his table? No honorable person would seek trade with an idiot, let alone a traitor. The jarring exchange at the White House was not unanticipated – it was foretold by past behaviour.
Rudd owed Australia his resignation the second Trump won office for the second time. The faintest diplomatic discomforts can have catastrophic consequences for nations. To remain in office with the gravity of insult he’d slung at Trump hanging over him was, in my opinion, to put his career above the interests of his countrymen.
Rudd’s failure should surprise no one. His cartoonish Prime Ministerships were exercises in personal vanity and were experiences he never learned from. But his run in with Trump should point to a sharper critique – not of him, but of the government who maintained his appointment.
Anthony Albanese honored the ‘rules’ of the ambassadors club: the role was bestowed partly as a prize to a Labor faithful, partly to ward off factional problems. But in so doing, Albanese neglected the fundamental precondition of diplomacy: that one enters the arena without contempt for counterparts. Here he could have actually learned from Trump, a bombastic man who is paradoxically meticulously respectful of his biggest foes. Albanese exposed Australia to avoidable failure and embarrassment. He retained Rudd even after Trump’s election victory in 2024, and the result was entirely predictable.
Despite an increasing divergence in political sensibilities, Americans still hold great affection for Australians. Australia’s governors coast on an inherited political, cultural and strategic capital that few if any nations can best. That capital is being drawn down, not least by a Trump Administration that views Australia’s military and social recalcitrance as a growing issue in the region.
Still, Trump gave Australia what it wanted this week. The reaffirmation of Aukus and the critical minerals agreement were generous gifts from a still gregarious power. Their bestowment on an Australia that still refuses to budge beyond a woefully inadequate 2.3 per cent of GDP spend on defence reflects the quality of its historic capital, not the negotiating skill of the Albanese government.
Kevin Rudd got what he deserved. Australians will get less than they deserve, should their governments continue to behave so dishonorably with their diplomatic appointments.
Ben Crocker is University Dean at the University of Austin
