EDITORIAL: Democrats to blame for Donald Trump’s re-emergence
Here we go again. The re-election of Donald Trump will be greeted by many Australians with trepidation and bafflement, no more so than in Canberra. How could the “world’s greatest democracy” return to Trump, a felonious demagogue whose own former chief of staff accused him of having said nazi dictator Adolf Hitler “did some good things”?
But the voters never get it wrong. And while the Australian political establishment may struggle to come to terms with Trump’s enduring appeal, it’s actually not that complicated.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Trump’s existence as a political force is a direct result of the Democrats’ many failures, stretching back to Barack Obama’s administration. Both Obama and President Joe Biden allowed America to drift in the key areas of border security and the economy.
Illegal border crossings surged under Biden. In 2023, US border agents intercepted an average of 170,000 migrants each month, 2.5 times more than the 2019 monthly average of 71,000.
Biden’s defenders say that the tidal wave of illegal immigration was the result of factors largely out of the President’s control, including COVID and upheaval in a number of Latin American countries. Regardless, Americans blamed Biden, and by extension, Kamala Harris, for the strain these unauthorised arrivals put on infrastructure and services. Biden’s changes to immigration policy in June, blocking most unauthorised arrivals from claiming asylum, came far too late to change their minds.
Although the American economy has rebounded well since the darkest days of COVID, the lasting impacts of inflation, which peaked at 9.1 per cent in 2022, mean many Americans feel worse off than they did four years ago.
It’s safe to say the mood in Canberra today is one of panic. Regardless of what was publicly said, there’s no doubt Anthony Albanese was urging on his ideological ally Harris.
Instead, Australia will have to deal with the turbulence of a volatile president Trump, who has already pledged to impose massive tariffs on imports, which could strangle global free trade.
But we’ve been through this before. The previous government managed to secure an exemption from Trump’s punishing tariffs on steel and aluminium imports in 2018. With skilful diplomacy, Australia could do so again.
Some of the success of that mission will rest with a man who has more to lose than most from a Trump presidency — Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd. In March, Trump described Rudd as a “nasty person”, presumably in response to the many unflattering character assessments of him made by the former PM. They included that Trump was “nuts” and “the most destructive president in history”.
Despite attempts to mend fences, Rudd is on the President’s enemy list. He may have other scores to settle first. But Rudd’s position is ultimately untenable. Albanese can pretend it’ll be OK but Rudd will need to be replaced. Like Trump, maybe Joe Hockey can be resurrected.
