The left-wing Australian ambassador to the U.S. – who once called President Donald Trump “a village idiot” – is leaving his role a year early, announcing his departure just weeks after Trump issued a very public putdown of his own.
“It is with deep appreciation for his tireless contribution to our national interests over the last three years in Washington that we today announce the Hon Dr Kevin Rudd AC will conclude his posting as Australia’s Ambassador to the United States at the end of March 2026,” a press release from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong reads.
According to the press release, Rudd is moving on in March to become global president at a think tank named the Asia Society, having previously been involved with the organization between 2021 and 2023 and now keen to rekindle his close links to China’s Communist dictatorship.
As Breitbart News reported, last October Trump assailed the charmless Australian envoy while seated across a table from him after being asked about the remarks Rudd had made.
At the time, Rudd was involved in a delegation alongside Albanese during a meeting with Trump at the White House. An Australian reporter asked if Trump was worried about Albanese’s administration or previous comments from Rudd.
“Did an ambassador say something bad about me? Don’t tell me. Where is he, is he still working for you?” Trump asked Albanese, with the left-wing Australian leader pointing out his ambassador.
“You said bad?” Trump asked Rudd, with Rudd replying, “[b]efore I took this position.”
“I don’t like you either. And I probably never will,” Trump responded.
In a 2021 video that surfaced after Trump reclaimed the presidency in November 2024, Rudd, who had served as Australia’s Labor prime minister more than a decade ago, said, “the United States in the last four years has been run by a village idiot.”
He added America was “increasingly incompetent in its national statecraft under Trump.”
Australian news and talk TV program the Project noted in its report on the video that Rudd began deleting anti-Trump social media posts days earlier.
Rudd called Trump “the most destructive president in history” in June 2020, in one example according to the Project.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation also notes that Rudd deleted another post bashing Trump as a “traitor to the West.”
Rudd’s meek departure will be welcomed by those who value the ties between the two countries.
Australia and the U.S. have a long history of close alliances in matters from trade to diplomacy and on the battlefield. The first time Australian and U.S. troops fought together in battle was during the Battle of Hamel on July 4, 1918, in northern France, during World War I.
They have been keen allies ever since and the bilateral ties have stood no matter which party held the ascendancy in Washington and Canberra.
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