Let’s Take a Look at the Australian Politicians Who Support Trump

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Let’s Take a Look at the Australian Politicians Who Support Trump

It's all the guys you expect, but for reasons you couldn't make up.

Plenty of Australian politicians struggled to mask their disdain for Donald Trump during the US election campaign, confident that a Clinton win would offset any future diplomatic awkwardness.

But with the swearing-in of Donald Trump this week as the USA's 45th (and final) President, it's worth looking at our own politicians and asking: who is happy about this? Which Australian MPs and senators support Trump, and, most importantly, why?

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Cory Bernardi

It would be unfair to begin every single piece about LNP Senator Cory Bernardi by reminding you that he was forced to resign from his position as Deputy Manager of Opposition Business when he said that same-sex marriage would lead to polygamy and bestiality, so I won't.

Instead, let's ponder why Bernardi, a deeply religious man, supports Donald Trump, a man who has boasted of extra-marital affairs and was caught on mic admitting to sexually assaulting women. "It's not about his character, it's not about his policy positions," Bernardi told the ABC, "but I thought he's a catalyst for change and that many of the issues that he's been targeted about and criticised for, I think are absolutely mainstream."

To clarify, career politician Cory Bernardi is saying that neither a candidate's character nor their policies are as important as whether they represent change. Like if you're on a cruise ship and you're unhappy with the quality of the breakfast buffet, you hug an anchor and throw yourself into shark-infested waters. You know, change.

Bernardi was initially shocked by revelations that the FBI was investigating the Clinton Foundation's so-called "pay to play" scandal. "How anyone can defend HRC & WJC is beyond belief," he twittered in a now-deleted twit. Presumably, revelations about Donald Trump's numerous conflicts of interest, all of which massively dwarf those of Clinton's, have shocked Bernardi so much he's been unable to comment. Bernardi is a man of character, and we can only assume that his view on corruption is consistent and not cherry-picked.

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Bernardi has further warned the LNP not to ignore the lessons of Donald Trump's victory. Given Clinton received three million more votes than Trump, we can assume that the lesson Bernardi is citing is "let's encourage voter suppression."

Pauline Hanson

One Nation founder and hardened ex-con Pauline Hanson was delighted to have received tickets to Trump's inauguration, elevating her to the level of seat filler. Sadly, Hanson had to decline the invitation, instead sending Senator Brian Burston in her place.

Hopefully Burston, whose sole tweet was last August and read "I want to contribute in my own way to a better Australia", can pick up some tips from President Trump about getting those Twitter numbers up.

Hanson scored an invitation despite the fact that our own Prime Minister (a quick google reveals this to be a "Malcolm Turnbull") did not. At first we presume this was because she and fellow One Nation members decided to celebrate Trump's win by drinking champagne in front of Parliament House, in what will one day become one of the key images depicting the pre-apocalypse. It later transpired that this was not the result of some special relationship between the two outliers, but the result of multiple requests from Hanson and Malcolm Roberts to DFAT, who then simulated shock when the invitation came through.

 George Christensen

Nationals MP and man who willingly did this, George Christensen, is a supporter of both corporal and capital punishment, doesn't believe in climate change, supports Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, and thinks the Safe Schools program is something akin to a sexual predator grooming children. What would an inquiring mind like his find to admire in Donald Trump?

On his Facebook page, Christensen, like Bernardi, promoted Donald Trump as an agent for change. On November 6, he said that Hillary Clinton would "drive an agenda of more crony capitalism, more regulation, more globalisation, more climate change nonsense, more attacks on core Western values, more pandering to radical Islam and more war and conflict including against Russia."

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Trump, he says, "is funding his own campaign" and will put government "back in the hands of the people rather than special interests." Except for the fact that he didn't self-fund his campaign and his cabinet is stacked with special interests. But hey, facts aren't massively important when you're a politician openly supporting a candidate in another country's election.

Christensen did add that Trump "will spark a bushfire that will see other Western nations jettison [global] deals and treaties as well." On that point, we agree with Christensen. Given bushfires are a destructive force we face every Summer, it's about as apt an analogy as you can get.

Tony Abbott

This brings us to Tony Abbott. Historians and fans of trivia may remember he was briefly the Prime Minister of Australia when a staffing shortage meant there was literally no one more qualified available for the job in mid-2013.

"This is, if you like, the revenge of the deplorables," he said. "All of the people who are sick of being called racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic… just because they hate people of other races, women, gays and Muslims." He didn't actually end his sentence that way, but what he did say was pretty dumb so I decided to help him out. You can read Abbott's original unmolested quote here if you really need to.

Unlike his pro-Trump conservatives buddies in the Liberal Party, Abbott does seem to admire an actual policy of Trump's, as opposed to his general je ne sais quoi.

"The moral panic about [global warming] has been completely over the top," he said (no, really, I didn't change this one). "One of the encouraging things about the election of President Trump is that we should finally be able to see this issue in better perspective."

So what is Trump's position on this issue? He has called global warming a Chinese hoax, denied he called global warming a Chinese hoax, said that global warming couldn't be happening because it's cold today, planned a sea wall to protect his golf course from the effects of global warming, said that Al Gore should have his Nobel Prize for his work on combatting global warming rescinded, met with Al Gore to discuss global warming, says he's keeping an open mind on the subject, nominated climate change denier Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, and met with the physicist who says global warming is actually happening except it's a good thing because plants like CO2. This water-tight position is clearly one that appeals to Tony Abbott's brand of consistent, value-oriented politics, so it's not hard to see why he's heartened by Trump's victory.

Lee Zachariah is journalist, TV writer, and author of Double Dissolution: Heartbreak and Chaos on the Campaign Trail, out now from Echo Publishing. You can also follow him on Twitter.