Footage has resurfaced of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying that Donald Trump ‘scares the s**t out of me.’
The video, recorded in July 2017 at the Splendour in the Grass festival, shows Albanese, who was then the shadow minister for transport and infrastructure, openly criticising Trump just six months into his presidency.
‘We have an alliance with the US, we’ve got to deal with him, but that doesn’t mean that you’re uncritical about it,’ Albanese said.
‘He (Trump) scares the s**t out of me. 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.’
Sky News host Sharri Markson labelled the resurfaced comments ‘juvenile’, claiming Albanese should have known better.
‘He was a senior figure in the Shorten team,’ Ms Markson said on Monday.
‘He should have known better than to speak in such a juvenile fashion about the then-president of the nation that relies on for our national security.’
Former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are locked in one of the closest presidential races in history.
The unprecedented campaign has seen a candidate drop out, two assassination attempts and fluctuating polls, with both candidates frantically fanning swing states to sway as many undecided voters as possible.
Polling aggregators on Monday had the gap between Trump and Harris at as little as 0.1 per cent.
The winner is expected to be announced on election day on November 5, (November 6, AEDT) 2024.
Albanese’s resurfaced comments come amid reports Labor is uneasy with the prospect of a Trump victory and is working to strengthen the party’s bond with Trump’s team.
n Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles were reported to have met with Trump’s foreign policy guru Mike Pompeo this week.
Pompeo, who served in Trump’s first administration as director of the Central Intelligence Agency and as the 70th United States secretary of state, is expected to take a senior role again in the event of a second Trump administration.
Meanwhile, n Ambassador to Washington Kevin Rudd has also come under fire after taking the week off in the lead up to the election to promote his new book, which warns of the dangers of China’s dictatorship.
Before he was appointed to the diplomatic role, Rudd publicly described Trump as ‘nuts, ‘the most destructive president in history’ and a ‘traitor to the West’.
His comments about the Republican candidate have led for calls for him to be replaced if Trump wins the 2024 election.
Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump, said it would be ‘kind of hard’ for the government to keep Kevin Rudd in Washington if he hadn’t shown signs of a ‘change of heart’ towards Trump.
‘It’s not my decision but I do think it would be nice to have a person who appreciates all Donald Trump has gone through to want to serve our country at this moment, this this really critical moment in the history of America,’ she told Sky News.
‘Obviously, that is a little bit tough to take, and maybe we would want to choose someone else (for the US embassy top job).’
Ms Trump also addressed Mr Rudd’s comments directly, claiming Trump is the ‘opposite of a traitor to the west’.
‘He is literally saving the free world. We had no new wars for the first time in 82 years under his leadership and that is a place the world agrees we want to get back to right now,’ she said.
Political commentators also believe Rudd’s time in Washington was limited and he would not survive a second Trump presidency.
Earlier this year, Liberal Party Defence and National Security Policy Chair Lincoln Parker told Sky News Rudd will have to go if Trump is re-elected because they go together like ‘oil and water’.
‘If the n government wants to communicate effectively with a Trump administration, they’re going to have to find a new n Ambassador in Washington DC,’ Parker said.
‘Kevin Rudd is going to have to go and maybe go back to the role he had at the Asia Society because that is not a good mix.’
In March, Trump slammed the former Prime Minister for his comments, labelling him as ‘nasty’ and ‘not the brightest bulb’.
When questioned by GB News’s Nigel Farage, Trump suggested that Rudd may not be able to keep his role as ambassador if he is elected President again in November.
Farage said: ‘Things have changed in . We’ve got a Labor government. The previous ambassador, Joe Hockey, I think was quite a good friend of yours. Now they’ve appointed Kevin Rudd.
‘He has said the most horrible things; you were a destructive president, a traitor to the West, and he’s now ‘s ambassador in Washington.’
Trump snapped back: ‘I don’t know, he won’t be there long if that’s the case.
‘I don’t know much about him. I heard he was a little bit nasty. I hear he’s not the brightest bulb.
‘If he is at all hostile, he will not be there for long.’