The bizarre theory behind Trump's phone call with the Australian Prime Minister

The latest in the ongoing drama of Trump's terminated call with Australian Prime Minister: a weirdly plausible new theory?

Let's recap the events so far...

In November, the Obama administration pledged to take in about 1,250 of the roughly 2,000 refugees trapped in Australian detention centres in Naru and Manus Island, who are experiencing appalling conditions.

Many of these refugees are originally from countries targeted by Trump's 'travel ban' - but Trump's order also allows for exceptions to honour "a pre-existing international agreement"

Phone call: Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull

• According to the Washington Post, during a prearranged phone call Trump angrily lambasted Turnbull over the refugee agreement
• They quote a senior U.S. official saying that Trump also boasted about his electoral college win and his inauguration crowd
• They report that Trump repeatedly referred to 2,000 refugees, rather than 1,250
• Allegedly, Trump fumed that "this is the worst deal ever" and claimed that "the next Boston bombers" would enter the country via this deal
• The call was expected to be an hour long, but was reportedly ended abruptly by Trump after 25 minutes

As commentators scrabble to explain Trump's alleged lack of awareness and poor diplomacy with one of the U.S.'s most important allies, Karin Robinson posted this Twitter thread:

Robinson told indy100 that Trump's behaviour to Australia struck her as "particularly unaccountable".

The Aftermath

• Predictably, Trump took to Twitter, calling it a "dumb deal" in a fit of undiplomatic pique

• A senior official admitted that the phone call had been hostile 
• Turnbull stated at a news conference that he would not comment on the phone call, as it is candid and private
• The Australian State Department stated that that the White House have confirmed they will honour the refugee agreement
• Trump then tweeted claiming that "FAKE NEWS" media lied about the whole situation

The Prayer Breakfast

• At a National Prayer Breakfast, a traditionally solemn event held once a year in Washington D.C. each year, Trump ranted about "being taken advantage of".

He's been quoted by numerous news agencies saying:

When you hear about the tough phone calls I'm having, don't worry about it. Just don't worry about it. They're tough. We have to be tough.

[...] We're taken advantage of by every nation in the world, virtually. It's not going to happen anymore. 

We have one instance in Australia — I have a lot of respect for Australia, I love Australia as a country.

We had a problem: For whatever reason, President Obama said we could take probably well over 1000 illegal immigrants who are in prisons, and then we are going to take them into this country and I just said, ‘Why?’

• At a news conference at the White House, press secretary Sean Spicer said that Trump was "extremely upset" and "unbelievably disappointed" about the "horrible deal"
• He proceeded to walk out as reporters shouted questions about the rift with Australia

Conclusion

It's impossible to speculate as to what Trump knew about Turnbull's politics or stance on refugees.

His own Tweet and furious reaction seems to confirm he was unaware of the deal, but that is again, speculation.

Either way...

According to Australian opposition leader Bill Shorten: “Mr Trump needs to understand and show greater respect to Australia and the Australian alliance than he seems to be displaying, if the reports are right."

This may surprise you but whilst I’m not a fan of the way Mr Turnbull has been handling matters on this one I’ve got some sympathy for him because, quite bluntly, I don’t think you can run an American-Australian alliance by Twitter.

Wise words.

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