Trump’s America does not care about Australia. The review into AUKUS that has sent the national security apparatus into meltdown is nothing but a shakedown from a bully intent on shaking down the world for his own mercurial interests.

A smart government would take the opportunity to get out. To actually put Australia first. But history tells us that is not the Australian way.

But amid all the breathless “give America what it wants” media coverage ahead of Anthony Albanese’s attendance at the G7, there are a few elements on his side that perhaps could give the Australian government the courage to do what is right.

One is the Australian people, who are growing increasingly concerned with America’s fall into the authoritarian rabbit hole.

Another, is America itself.

At the time of writing, America faces battles on three fronts. One is the Middle East, where Benjamin Netanyahu has wilfully threatened all-out war in the Middle East with his decision to target Tehran. The same very serious people who tell you that Australia should do anything it can to salvage AUKUS will also tell you that Trump is anti-war and has no desire to see the US return to fight in foreign lands.

We could argue the toss of whether or not that has ever been true – Trump and his vice president JD Vance spoke of giving Israel the resources it wanted to “finish the job” (the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza) and in 2017, Trump’s ego almost led the world into a nuclear conflict with North Korea – but it doesn’t matter if Trump wants to commit to Israel’s plan or not.

Trump failed to rein in Netanyahu. His influence there, or at least the influence he is willing to use (there is always the option of cutting off military aid), is limited, and if Iran responds to the........

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