I suspect Rudd will suddenly decide sometime over the next few months that he wants to spend more time with his family.

Fester,

Each country appoints their own ambassador to the US.
Not the US President. And Kevin Rudd did not make any
derogatory comments about the US President as US
Ambassador. Rudd's comments were made prior to his
appointment as Ambassador and have since been deleted.

JD Vance - Trump's vice-president made worse comments
in the past. I don't think that Trump worries too much
about the past. He's more interested in the here and now
and what's in it for him. The alliance between the US
and Australia is a strong one. I think it will remain
strong.

Fester,

You said that what the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister
said about Kevin Rudd is irrelevant.

Former US Ambassador Joe Hockey disagrees with you. Hockey
has stated that it was very important for both the PM
and the Foreign Minister to work together with our US
Ambassador. Which they all are currently doing.

Hockey has also said that Rudd was an excellent choice for
our Ambassador.

Hockey has backed Rudd to continue his posting as Australia's
current Ambassador.

Speaking on "Sunrise" Hockey has said that Rudd has performed
well in his role.

"I don't think President elect Trump or any of his team (are)
in a position to say they won't work with the Ambassador.
I think it is really important they do".

Hockey added:

"Let's just make it work and whether you're a Liberal or
Labor, Green, or Pauline Hanson, whatever you are, we've got
to all be Team Australia".

There you go Fester. I found that Kevin Rudd did make those
comments as I pointed out in my earlier posts - but they
were made before he was appointed as US Ambassador and have
been deleted. I explained the reasons for that. However,
I hope that Joe Hockey's comments will help - and that you
shall see the importance of us moving on.

Trump won the American election.

I'm sure that our Ambassador will be able to work with the
Republican Administration.

Cheers.

I so want this to be true that I'm even going to do my usual checking...

"According to a Biden staffer Joe Biden did not write or have knowledge of his resignation letter that was posted to the platform X. Allegedly Biden had refused calls to step down citing his campaign’s internal polling and the resignation letter was leaked to force him out. It was done to force him out of office without having to use the 25th Amendment right before the election.

According to the same source Biden endorsed Harris as a way to get revenge on his party for pushing him out and summarily ending the possibility at an open primary by endorsing the least popular Vice President in modern history."

Strategic Analysis Australia has what are reasonable ways for us to show that we do have an interest in defending ourselves, following decades of doing nothing.

1. We should seek to acquire the B-21 Raider stealth bomber to add to AUKUS, as well as offer to host American B-21s.

2. During 2025-2028, expand the US Marine Corps presence to 16,000.

3. Bring Japan "as close as possible" to ANZUS and invite Japan to "permanently join rotational deployments with Australian and US military units in North Australia".

4. Develop a stronger defence and intelligence relationship with India.

5. Build a Pacific Response Force with Pacific Island countries, with humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

6. Permanent links with a stronger ADF presence in the "top end" and with the Cocos and Christmas Islands and Norfolk Island.

In any conflict, we would also have to defend New Zealand which opted put of ANZUS to prevent any naughty American nuclear powered ships wantng to visit them. As long as they don't pull a 'Solomon Islands' trick on us with Communist China; they have had an attitude to China different from ours in the past.

The ADF has remained static for decades, and it is not fit for purpose. It has become addicted to complex systems that cost too much and take too long to deliver.

It needs to acquire autonomous systems that can be produced in Australia.