Albo’s plan to ‘deal with’ Donald Trump

Anthony Albanese is playing down concerns there could be chemistry problems with Donald Trump and his incoming administration, insisting he can “work constructively” with the US president-elect.

Mr Trump’s historic win has sent shockwaves around the globe, with world leaders unsure of where their countries fit into his America-first agenda.

Questions have been sparked about Australia’s own positioning because ambassador Kevin Rudd and the Prime Minsiter have been critical of Mr Trump in past.

But Mr Albanese has played down any friction, saying in an interview aired on Sunday that his first conversation “with President Trump was very constructive and very positive”.

“I can work constructively. And there was a very good beginning to our relationship with a positive phone call that we had,” he told Sky News in the Peruvian capital Lima.

“We spoke for 10 minutes. It was one of the first phone calls that he made.”

Mr Albanese was asked about comments he made of Mr Trump at a Q&A at Splendour in the Grass.

The then-Labor opposition transport spokesman said Mr Trump “scares the s**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.”

A video Mr Albanese making the criticism resurfaced a day before the US presidential election.

In his interview, Mr Albanese said he no longer felt that way.

“No, I will deal with President Trump and I’ll deal with him constructively in Australia’s national interest,” Mr Albanese said.

“And I’m confident that we will be able to do so.”

He also defended Mr Rudd, whose past comments on the incoming US president have come back to haunt him and cast doubts over his ability to stay on as the ambassador in Washington.

Dan Scavino, a longtime close associate of Mr Trump, suggested the Australian envoy’s time was running out in an ominous social media post this week.

Mr Scavino sent a GIF of an hourglass to Mr Rudd in response to his X post congratulating Mr Trump on winning last week’s election.

The Trump aide has been named deputy chief of staff in the next administration.

But Mr Albanese defended Mr Rudd, saying “he’s doing a very important job”.

“The work that he did with AUKUS was a difficult task to get that through the Congress and the Senate,” Mr Albanese said.

“But when I was there, one of the things that struck me was just how extensive the links that Kevin Rudd had developed with the US Congress and the Senate were.”

Mr Rudd has said Mr Trump was a “village idiot”, “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.

Though, Mr Trump is no stranger to criticism, with even his vice presidential pick, JD Vance, once likening him to Adolf Hitler.