And Hockey gave the mateship campaign political form by creating the"Friends of Australia"caucus in the Congress. Other countries have long used this mechanism as a lobbying tool,but Australia hadn't bothered in recent decades. A former senior official in the George W. Bush White House,the whip-witted Mike Green,remarks:"I'm not so sure about this mateship campaign. Have you seen the logo? It looks like the eagle is buggering the kangaroo."This is a criticism Hockey accepts,pleading limited resources. But the larger point is that Australia hasn't been buggered by the US in recent years,at a time when scores of countries have been hit with punitive American tariffs,painful immigration restrictions,and other harms,often with no notice whatsoever.
The other essential fact of the Australian alliance is that Australia is one of the few countries in the world with which the US enjoys a trade surplus. So there is no sense and no justice in imposing tariffs on Australian goods. So no,Australia has not been screwed by Trump's tariffs.
Another secret of Australia's success is that"Trump loves Australia",says Hockey,"and Melania really loves Australia". This is a handy asset for an ambassador to work with. Asked the origins of this affection,Hockey pleads ignorance,but swears it's real.
A third ingredient is the conduct of Australia's prime ministers. Canada's Justin Trudeau and France's Emmanuel Macron,for instance,have been critical of Trump in public,and the US leader has returned the compliment by humiliating them. But Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison have kept their counsel.
But fourth is Hockey himself. How many other foreign ambassadors played golf with Trump,and not just once but several times? None. Hockey managed to win and hold unparalleled access to the administration. Other countries'ambassadors sought him out to glean intelligence on Trump. He used unconventional methods,but it's an unconventional time."We don't kowtow to them,you can push back,"says Hockey. He points out many areas of sharp policy difference – tariffs and the TPP,the Iran nuclear deal,the refugee deal salvaged by Turnbull."We disagree but without doing it too overtly,without humiliating them. That's where so many countries go wrong."
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So what more has Hockey learnt about Trump?"Everyone keeps underestimating him. It's a major mistake."He's not merely a political leader but"the leader of a movement"that commands the unswerving devotion of about one-third of the American population,regardless of criticisms and revelations. Trump has come to"own"patriotism as a potent political tool,he says. Indeed,he's even more likely to win re-election today than he was six months ago,in Hockey's assessment,though Hockey is not actually predicting a Trump return to the White House at the November election.
One thing Hockey is predicting? That America will continue to follow the course that Trump has set on China. And it won't be pretty:"This is the first time since the War of Independence that America has faced a rival that's not only a military challenger but also an economic challenger.
"The administration is reacting with a steely determination to identify China as the major threat and in doing so redefines what the world looks like over the next 10 years."
To regard the broad strategic confrontation as simply a"trade war"is a misunderstanding."The US is driving a wedge through the world –'you are with us or you are against us',"says Hockey,"and it will continue whoever is in charge. America doesn't do nuance well."
"China is friendless in DC. The Trump administration is concerned that they will be outflanked on the right by Democrats on China. That's unbelievable,isn't it?"Australia will need to be deft to avoid being hurt in the US-China clash,he says.
Perhaps most surprising of all is that Hockey found Trump to be curious."He's always asking questions,about all sorts of things."During his last Oval Office call on Trump,for instance,as the Australian bushfires commanded global attention,the President wanted to know if the fires were connected to climate change."I said,'My instinct is that climate change is real and you can't divorce it from the bushfires'."Trump didn't argue.
Hockey,the long-shot diplomat,plans to remain in Washington to start his own business consultancy. And to teach diplomacy at Georgetown University and American University,which is,he concedes,"something no one ever imagined". Like much of Washington life in the time of Trump.
Peter Hartcher is international editor.