Former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has said leaders should “not give in to bullies” after he was lashed by Donald Trump in a late-night social media post.
Taking to Truth Social platform just before midnight Sunday night in Washington DC, the US president said Turnbull led Australia from “behind” and did not understand China.
“Malcolm Turnbull, the former Prime Minister of Australia who was always leading that wonderful country from ‘behind’ never understood what was going on in China, nor did he have the capacity to do so. I always thought he was a weak and ineffective leader and, obviously, Australian’s [sic] agreed with me!!!”
The post appears to be in response to an interview by Turnbull with Bloomberg in which he said Trump’s chaotic leadership style would benefit China, to the detriment of the US.
“President Xi will aim to be the exact opposite of Trump: where Trump is chaotic, he will be consistent. Where Trump is rude and abusive, he’ll be respectful. Where Trump is erratic, he will be consistent.”
Turnbull said the world was seeing an “undiluted” version of Trump in his second term, and that his capricious behaviour would be seen as advantageous for China’s president, Xi Jinping, in international relations.
For countries forced to choose between “China on the one hand, and Trump on the other”, many would “find China a more attractive partner”.
Contacted by the Guardian, Turnbull said his commentary on Bloomberg “speaks for itself”.
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“His [Trump’s] post proves that my comments hit the mark,” the former prime minister said.
Speaking to Sarah Ferguson on ABC’s 7.30 on Monday night, Turnbull described Trump’s comments as “rude and abusive” and doubled down on comments the US president was driving countries closer to China.
“If Trump abuses them, seeks to bully them, puts crippling tariffs on them, they will naturally edge closer to China,” the former prime minister said.
But Turnbull also argued that being “sycophantic” towards Trump would not get a desired outcome for leaders around the world either.
“The reality is – if you suck up to bullies, whether it is … global affairs, or in the playground, you just get more bullying.
“I mean, are we just going to become just a conga line of sycophants creeping through the White House, paying homage to this guy and telling him he’s a genius? It’s ludicrous!”
Turnbull also said he believed Trump regretted offering Turnbull’s government an exemption on steel tariffs in 2018 “because then he had to give somebody else an exemption and … and before too long, too many countries had an exemption”.
Turnbull said he believed America would not grant the exemption this time.
“And you know, there has been an attempt to set Albanese up to fail on something that he was most unlikely to succeed in,” he said.
Speaking on ABC RN Breakfast on Tuesday morning, Turnbull said Australia should be “free to speak the truth” about Trump, rubbishing suggestions it was unwise to criticise the US president as the government scrambles to secure an exemption to the steel and aluminium tariffs, due to be imposed on Thursday.
“Are you suggesting that we should engage in self-censorship in Australia for fear of offending the huge ego of Donald Trump? Turnbull replied when asked if it was “reckless” to publicly criticise Trump as the tariffs loom over Australia.
“Is that really the state that we’ve got to? Surely we should be free to speak the truth. Or are we going to muzzle ourselves for fear of offending Mr Trump?”
Trump and Turnbull have history. The pair shared an acrimonious phone call in 2017 over the US-Australia refugee swap deal, which had been negotiated by Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama.
Trump said it was a bad deal and accepting it would make him look like a “dope”.
“I have had it. I have been making these calls all day and this is the most unpleasant call all day. Putin was a pleasant call. This is ridiculous,” Trump said shortly before the call ended.
But at other times, the pair have appeared friendly. Turnbull has said previously Trump would mention Kerry Packer every time they met, even during a meeting with the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
Turnbull was prime minister from 2015 to 2018. He did not lose office at an election but rather through an internal Liberal party spill, when he lost the leadership to Scott Morrison.
