Trump team’s ominous response to Rudd

A member of Donald Trump’s inner circle has sent Kevin Rudd an ominous message, sparking fresh concern around the Australian ambassador’s future.

Last week, Mr Rudd congratulated Mr Trump on his historic White House win in a social media post, writing on X that Australia “looks forward to working closely with President Trump and his Administration”.

But overnight, Dan Scavino, a longtime close associate of the US President-elect, replied to the Australian ambassador’s congratulatory note with a GIF of an hourglass.

The response came after a video from 2021 resurfaced showing Mr Rudd calling Mr Trump a “village idiot”.

Mr Rudd has also said Mr Trump was “nuts”, the “most destructive president in history” and a “traitor to the West”.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump has called Mr Rudd “nasty” and “not the brightest bulb”.

“If he’s at all hostile, he will not be there long,” the former president said in an interview earlier this year.

Despite the apparent friction, the Albanese government has stood by Mr Rudd, crediting him with much of the diplomatic legwork around AUKUS and Australia-US trade.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers earlier this week praised him for setting up dialogue with both Mr Trump’s economic team and senior Biden administration economic figures.

Meanwhile, the Coalition has been accused of “undermining” Mr Rudd with its messaging around the Australian envoy.

Some in the opposition suggest he could not serve Australia’s best interests, while the upper echelons of the Coalition have thrown their support behind him.

Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Julian Hill on Wednesday said the Coalition was playing a “tawdry trick”.

“On one hand, we’ve got the official position by Peter Dutton, echoed by Scott Morrison and John Howard, that they back Kevin Rudd,” Mr Hill told Sky News.

“But on the other hand, we’ve got this little undermining whispering campaign, which is not in Australia’s national interest.

“It’s not Team Australia, and it’s purely to try and undermine the Prime Minister.”

He went on to say that “Liberal Party dinosaurs like Alexander Downer and Michael Kroger” and “freelancing backbenchers” were “running around, undermining the ambassador”.

“So they can’t have it both ways. They can’t talk about both sides of their mouth,” Mr Hill said.

“I’m not being aggressive about it, but we just need to see the game that’s going on, and we shouldn’t be trying to undermine the Prime Minister on a day-to-day political headline in any media outlet.

“Let’s focus on Team Australia and accept that Kevin has a track record that he’s doing a good job.”

Mr Dutton earlier on Wednesday reaffirmed his support for Mr Rudd, saying that he “has a term to finish” and a potential reappointment would be an “issue for the government of the day”.

“I hope that he’s able to form a relationship with the new administration as he’s done with the current one,” the Opposition Leader told the ABC.

“The comments by Penny Wong or by Anthony Albanese or by Kevin Rudd or whoever it might be, that’s an issue for the Prime Minister to deal with.”