The president is bringing out the differences between political cultures and traditions in Australia and the US, especially in attitudes towards what government can and should do.

Donald Trump is coming to mean many things for this nation’s political leaders and for the Australian people. Mad king, tariff tyrant, spoiler of world orders, trasher of international rules. And still a hero to some.

During Trump’s first term, the Turnbull Government looked to give him an education in alliances. It invited him onto a decommissioned US aircraft carrier in New York harbour and played a video about diggers and GIs defending freedom.

The effort, endorsed beyond the usual supporters, said much about the Australian desire to fit this political freak into the set of expectations of what US presidents ought to appreciate about Australia.

Perhaps it worked. This time around, consider how Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, unfairly panned for not dashing to Washington in the days both before and after the president’s inauguration, now invokes the spirit of Trump to paint Peter Dutton as too great a risk to inflict on the Australian political tradition.

According to much of the press, Dutton is squirming as a result. Time will tell whether, however, the opposition leader is simply playing sensible suburban electorate politics.

Albanese must believe that he has the best of both worlds during this election. Questing for prime ministerial gravitas, he professes complete trust in Trump the untrustworthy (this, as Lowy Institute polling shows that barely a third of all Australians now have confidence in the US acting responsibly in the world).

The election explained

Playing politics, Albanese then depicts the Coalition and its leader as........

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