‘Traitor’: Rudd races to scrub ‘nasty’ posts

Kevin Rudd is discovering that what’s shared on the internet lives forever.

It’s emerged today that the former prime minister, who now serves as Australia’s ambassador to the United States, has quietly scrubbed his social media accounts of all “nasty” posts about Donald Trump.

Mr Rudd, who it’s believed earns up to $400,000 per year for being the country’s representative in America, while also continuing to bank half of his parliamentary pension, is no fan of the Republican.

Over the years, he has regularly hurled insults at Mr Trump via his account on X, formerly Twitter.

At various points, Mr Rudd has described him as everything from a “traitor to the west” and a “problem for the world”.

The most scathing attack came in June 2020 when he slammed Mr Trump for being “the most destructive president in history”.

“He drags America and democracy through the mud,” Mr Rudd wrote on X. “He thrives on fomenting, not healing, division. He abuses Christianity, church and bible to justify violence. All aided and abetted by [Rupert] Murdoch’s FoxNews (sic) network in America which feeds this.”

But now, as the Australian Government comes to terms with how its working relationship with its most crucial and important ally might evolves, those remarks have all vanished.

Mr Rudd’s digital housekeeping appears to have come too late.

Lara Trump, the president-elect’s daughter-in-law and head of the Republic National Committee, described him as “nasty” in an interview with Sky News.

“Maybe we want to choose somebody else,” Ms Trump said of his role as ambassador.

“It’s kind of hard to have a position like that where you’d want to keep someone who said such nasty things about a person.

“I do think it would be nice to have a person who appreciates all that Donald Trump has gone through to want to serve our country at this moment.”

And back in March, the man himself vowed that Mr Rudd “won’t be there long” should he win the campaign.

“I don’t know much about him,” he said in an interview with GB News in the UK when read some of those X posts.

“I heard he was a little bit nasty. I hear he’s not the brightest bulb. But I don’t know much about him. But if he’s at all hostile, he will not be there long.”

After his delete spree was exposed today, Mr Rudd’s private office issued a statement.

“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,” it read.

He did so to “eliminate the possibility of such comments being misconstrued as reflecting his positions as ambassador and, by extension, the views of the Australian Government”.

Elly Lawson, the deputy secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, told The Australian that the insults were made when Mr Rudd ran a US think-tank in New York and before he was appointed ambassador.

But Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham, the opposition’s spokesman on foreign affairs, has called for the PM to recall Mr Rudd.

Dennis Richardson, a former Australian ambassador to the US, today warned against “hitting the panic button.

In an interview with the Australian Financial Review, Mr Richardson said: “Anyone who seeks to undermine the Australian ambassador obviously puts personal feelings and perceived political advantage ahead of the national interest and national security.

“In fact, they don’t know how to spell the words ‘national security’ and ‘national interest’.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong insisted Mr Rudd was doing “an excellent job” and she’s “confident” he will continue to do so.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re Liberal, Labor, Green, whatever – Australia first,” Senator Wong told ABC Radio.

“And that’s certainly the approach I hope political leaders will take in relation to backing in our ambassador and the government as we engage with the new administration.”

Mr Rudd’s position is likely safe for now, given a number of government figures have been equally scathing of Mr Trump in the past – including Mr Albanese.

After Joe Biden’s victory in 2020, the PM described the removal of Mr Trump from the White House as a “triumph of hope over fear”.

That remark came three years after the then-opposition MP revealed the president “scares the s*** out of me”.

Mr Albanese told reporters today that he wouldn’t apologise for those comments.

Others within Labor ranks have previously dubbed Mr Trump “a big baby”, a “loser”, and “mad”.

In a statement released late yesterday, Mr Albanese insisted Australia’s alliance with the US “has always been bigger than individuals”.

“It has stood tall through generations of governments from both sides of the aisle and we will work together as allies,” he said.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton called for Mr Rudd to now work “day and night” to build links with Mr Trump that “deepen relationships and start new ones”.

For his part, Mr Rudd took to X overnight to offer his congratulations and say he “looks forward to working closely with President Trump and his administration on the challenges and opportunities that our two great democracies … face in the years ahead”.