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Malcolm Turnbull has branded Donald Trump a “tyrant”, delivered a cheeky critique of Scott Morrison and questioned whether Israel’s war in Gaza is really what Hamas wants during his latest appearance on the ABC quiz show.
The former Coalition Prime Minister was on a panel on Monday night alongside writer Rebecca Huntley, British historian Peter Frankopan, Sydney Ukrainian academic Olga Oleinikova and University of Sydney social work chair Jioji Ravolu , while discussing whether democracy was in a fight for its own rights. survival.
He and Trump had a turbulent relationship while they were leaders simultaneously in 2017 and 2018.
Turnbull said Trump, whom he has repeatedly criticized over the years, was no longer committed to democracy “as we know it.”
He fears that a Trump victory in November threatens to turn the United States into an autocracy without the rule of law.
“Donald Trump doesn’t believe the law applies to him,” Turnbull told the audience.
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull didn’t hold back at the ABC’s Q&A on Monday night.
US President Donald Trump speaks on the phone with Malcolm Turnbull during their first official telephone conversations at the White House in Washington, DC.
“Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and refused to accept it and… encouraged a mob to try to overwhelm the constitutional process in Congress, tried to overwhelm his own constitution.”
When it was pointed out that Trump was outperforming incumbent President Joe Biden in the polls, Turnbull responded: “Tyrants are usually popular.”
“The key to liberal democracy is that it empowers the majority, but it also – through the rule of law – restricts the majority,” he said.
He added that democracy meant that there was a rule of law that protected and applied to all citizens.
While Australia has become more dependent on the United States, Turnbull said that link would be much less reliable under Trump if he were re-elected.
He said the challenge for the Australian government was not to back down.
“Trump is a bully, he encourages people to suck up to him,” he said.
‘Noticeably I didn’t do that… but I think it was a good thing.
‘We have to get used to the fact that America may not be aligned with the same values in the same way as it was 20, 30 or 40 years ago. That is a reality we have to live with.”
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison was noted as saying in an interview that Trump posed no threat to Australia’s national security.
But Turnbull said Trump could force Ukraine to surrender to Russia and noted that he had already threatened to withdraw from NATO.
The two leaders had a turbulent relationship during their time in power. In the photo, US President Donald Trump (second from left) and first lady Melania Trump (left) welcome Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (third from left) and his wife Lucy Turnbull (right) .
“Trump shook every cage, every alliance. “He is attracted to dictators and tyrants,” he stated.
“I’m afraid, not for the first time, I disagree with Scott Morrison.”
On Israel’s war in Gaza, Turnbull said the Hamas attack on October 7 “changed” Israel and “shocked” the world.
“It was designed as a provocation,” he said.
When asked whether Israel should not have accepted the provocation and whether it had been an overreach, Turnbull became somewhat critical of Israel.
“The question that needs to be asked is, first of all, whether the price in Palestinian civilian lives is now so high that the claim by the Israel Defense Forces that they are doing everything possible to protect human life is no longer It’s credible,” he said.
“Your question has to be whether they are losing so much public support in the world today that they are actually achieving what Hamas wanted to achieve.”
When asked if that was his opinion, he replied: “I am afraid that Hamas considers what happened to be entirely in accordance with its provocation.”