Want to meet Trump? Sack Rudd

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Let’s do some more worrying, shall we. The Australian.

The waning possibility of Anthony Albanese landing a face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump in coming weeks has sparked alarm from the Coalition and defence ­experts, who have raised concern about the two leaders not meeting before Washington’s controversial AUKUS review concludes and instead leaving the outcome “to chance”.

Despite indications from the Prime Minister that he may attend the NATO summit in The Hague next week – which Mr Trump may also take part in – The Australian understands that this option is becoming increasingly unlikely, amid questions over whether Mr Trump will be able to leave the US because of the Middle East crisis.

Without meeting the President on the sidelines of NATO, the next best option being considered by the government is a sit-down ­between the two leaders on the sidelines of a UN summit in New York in September.

Let’s face it, so long as Kevin Rudd is point man in Washington, Australia will be a low priority for Trump.

After this.

Rudd is wrong. Australia is the village idiot so long as it persists with a narcissistic ambassador to manage a narcissistic president.

Nothing could be more idiotic than that.

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Summon the real ambassador!

About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.