Australia’s US ambassador Kevin Rudd has been forced to issue a statement after scrubbing unflattering online commentary on president elect Donald Trump.
The statement ‘from the Office of the 26th Prime Minister of Australia’ (which was Mr Rudd) declared in his previous role he was head of an independent US-based think tank.
‘Mr. Rudd was a regular commentator on American politics,’ the statement reads.
‘Out of respect for the office of President of the United States, and following the election of President Trump, Ambassador Rudd has now removed these past commentaries from his personal website and social media channels.
‘This has been done to eliminate the possibility of such comments being misconstrued as reflecting his positions as Ambassador and, by extension, the views of the Australian Government.’
‘Ambassador Rudd looks forward to working with President Trump and his team to continue strengthening the US-Australia alliance.’
In one of the erased tweets from 2020, Mr Rudd accused Mr Trump of dragging ‘America and democracy through the mud’.
‘The most destructive president in history,’ Rudd wrote.
‘He thrives on fomenting, not healing, division. He abuses Christianity, church and the Bible to justify violence.
‘All aided and abetted by Murdoch’s FoxNews Network in America which feeds this.’
Rudd had deleted this tweet as the US election campaign entered its final week.
In other media and social media remarks Mr Rudd labelled Mr Trump as ‘nuts’ and a ‘traitor to the West’.
There are increasing calls for Kevin Rudd to quit his job as Australia’s US ambassador following a history of bad blood between him and Donald Trump
When these remarks were brought to Mr Trump’s attention by British interviewer Nigel Farage in March, Trump returned fire saying he had heard Mr Rudd was ‘nasty’ and ‘not the brightest bulb’.
Libertarian NSW Upper House MP John Ruddick said Mr Rudd had only one course of action following Trump’s stunning presidential resurrection.
‘Kevin Rudd should do the gracious thing and he should offer his resignation,’ Mr Ruddick told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday.
‘I am calling on Kevin Rudd to do it immediately. We can’t have an ambassador that has been so partisan against the incoming President.’
Mr Ruddick, a strong backer of Trump, predicted if Mr Rudd stays in the job it would make ‘our our most important international relationship dysfunctional’.
‘Famously for Trump, personal relationships are very important to him and he is not a forgiving type of person,’ Mr Ruddick said.
‘Rudd has acted foolishly as a diplomat because he has not been very diplomatic. He’s been a pundit and they don’t make good ambassadors.’
When Mr Trump was told about some Mr Rudd’s unflattering remarks he responded that he had heard the former Australian prime minister ‘was nasty’ and ‘not the brightest bulb’
Before the US election Trump’s daughter-in-law,Lara Trump, said it would be ‘kind of hard’ for the government to keep Mr Rudd in Washington if he hadn’t shown signs of a ‘change of heart’ towards Trump.
‘It’s not my decision but I do think it would be nice to have a person who appreciates all Donald Trump has gone through to want to serve our country at this moment, this this really critical moment in the history of America,’ she told Sky News.
‘Obviously, that is a little bit tough to take, and maybe we would want to choose someone else (for the US embassy top job).’
UAP Senator Ralph Babet, who is in America for the presidential election, also called for Mr Rudd to go saying ‘the only reason he was sent to the United States in the first place was so he couldn’t cause any trouble here at home’.
‘His positoin is completely untenable,’ Senator Babet said.
‘If Kevin Rudd had any decency, humility or self respect he would resign immediately.
‘And if our Prime Minister had any cojones he would recall Kevin Rudd back to Australia immediately.
‘Whilst being in America I have not met a single person within conservative `circles who has spoken fondly about Ambassador Rudd’.
Before Wednesday’s US election Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed Mr Rudd would remain US ambassador, telling ABC Radio on Monday: ‘Australia decides who our ambassador is, and Mr Rudd is doing a terrific job.’
Mr Rudd came under fire last week for taking time off in the lead up to the US presidential election to promote his new book, which warns of the dangers of China’s dictatorship.
Libertarian NSW upper house MP John Ruddick is calling for Mr Rudd to stand down from the US ambassador role
While Mr Rudd is being haunted by past comments he made about Mr Trump, he isn’t alone among Labor figures in making unflattering remarks about the brash real estate mogul turned politician.
A recently resurfaced 2017 video shows Mr Albanese appearance at a Q&A at Splendour in the Grass when he was serving as Labor’s transport and infrastructure spokesman while in opposition.
Asked how he would ‘deal with Trump’, Mr Albanese replied: ‘With trepidation.’
Pressed further Mr Albanese said ‘you’ve got to deal with who is elected’ with Mr Trump having been in the White House for six months.
‘We have an alliance with the US, we’ve got to deal with him, but that doesn’t mean that you’re uncritical about it,’ Mr Albanese said.
‘He (Trump) scares the sh*t out of me and I think it’s of some concern the leader of the free world thinks that you can conduct politics through 140 characters on Twitter overnight.’
Sunrise host Nat Barr suggested Mr Albanese may need to apologise after Trump was voted in as president of the United States on Wednesday night with the Prime Minister further probed on the matter by reporters on Thursday morning.
‘No, I look forward to working with President Trump,’ he insisted.
‘I’ve demonstrated, I think, my ability to work with world leaders and to develop relationships with them, which are positive.
‘And I think that I’ve demonstrated in the two-and-a-half years that I’ve had the honour of being Prime Minister.’
