Trump Absolutely Dunked On Turnbull During Their ‘Hostile’ 1st Phone Call

So. We knew that Donald Trump and Malcolm Turnbull had a conversation on the phone. Based on the statements from both camps, we all thought it was a mutually pleasant encounter in which Trump agreed to honour the refugee deal Australia struck with the Obama administration.

It should have been one of the most congenial calls for the new commander in chief — a conversation with the leader of Australia, one of America’s staunchest allies, at the end of a triumphant week.

Instead, President Trump blasted Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over a refu­gee agreement and boasted about the magnitude of his electoral college win, according to senior U.S. officials briefed on the Saturday exchange. Then, 25 minutes into what was expected to be an hour-long call, Trump abruptly ended it.

At one point Trump informed Turnbull that he had spoken with four other world leaders that day — including Russian President Vladi­mir Putin — and that, “This was the worst call by far.”

The worst call by far. It always seemed a bit weird that Team Trump was at least somewhat keen to honour a deal which would have brought 1,250 refugees into the United States, given his past rhetoric. Turns out Turnbull might just have misrepresented that conversation. 

According to WaPo, Trump bemoaned the deal, and accused Australia of seeking to export the “next Boston bombers” which is obviously a fairly more intense account of things than Turnbull implied.

And it turns out that this really might have been the most hostile conversation Trump had with a foreign head of government. Again, according to WaPo:

A White House spokesman declined to comment. A senior administration official acknowledged that the conversation with Turnbull had been hostile and charged, but emphasised that most of Trump’s calls with foreign leaders — including the heads of Japan, Germany, France and Russia — have been both productive and pleasant.

Turns it out pissed Trump off so much that he didn’t even want to talk to Turnbull about any other issue, and ended the call:

At one point, Turnbull suggested that the two leaders move on from their impasse over refugees to discuss the conflict in Syria and other pressing foreign issues. But Trump demurred and ended the call, making it far shorter than his conversations with Shinzo Abe of Japan, Angela Merkel of Germany, François Hollande of France or Putin.

Bloody hell. What’s Turnbull’s statement on getting rinsed by Trump? Well…