Subhead:Rudd insists his departure had nothing to do with a blunt White House exchange, as he tries to duck accountability in Davos.#
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I confronted Kevin Rudd on the streets of Davos after his humiliating exit as Australia’s ambassador to the United States, and unsurprisingly, he didn’t want to answer the most obvious question of all: did Donald Trump force him out?
Rudd has been trying to pretend nothing happened. But Australians saw it with their own eyes. At a White House meeting, Trump dismissed him to his face, saying, “I don’t like you either. I don’t and I probably never will.” It was brutal and deeply embarrassing for a former prime minister representing Australia on the world stage.
When I approached Rudd in Davos, I asked what many Australians were thinking. How does it feel knowing that a lot of Australians, probably the majority, were actually on Trump’s side in that moment?
Rudd immediately tried to dodge and then when I asked about his new role and why he was even here in Davos, he backtracked. “I’m here in a private capacity,” he said.
🚨 Donald Trump recently HUMILIATED Kevin Rudd on the world stage.
Now Rudd has announced he’s quitting a year early as Australia’s ambassador to the US.
That’s not a resignation.
That’s being escorted out.Good riddance.
Let’s enjoy that delicious moment again 👇 pic.twitter.com/OBNEKLBB50
— Avi Yemini (@OzraeliAvi) January 12, 2026
I pressed him on the obvious speculation: that he quit early because Trump told him to his face that he didn’t like him. Rudd flatly denied it.
