Kennedy's curse
From her cousin's role as health secretary to Kevin Rudd's future as ambassador to the US, Caroline Kennedy answered multiple questions about Trump's return at the National Press Club today.
Spare a thought for US ambassador Caroline Kennedy, who found herself in the unenviable position today of fielding half an hour of journalists' questions about an incoming president she didn’t want, and a cousin she’d probably prefer not to answer for.
But with wry smiles and pauses for effect at the National Press Club in Canberra, Kennedy delivered subtle rebukes of Donald Trump’s incoming administration with a wink and a nod. At one point, she chuckled as she said: “If you invite me back when I'm no longer an ambassador, we can discuss this further!”
For a member of the Kennedy dynasty, it was an odd position to find herself in: attempting to reassure the audience that fears Democrats pushed throughout the campaign — Trump is a fascist and an existential danger to the international order — were overblown.
Should America’s allies in the Indo-Pacific prepare for the isolationist president-elect to abandon them? “I don't think it shows that America is not going to be present in this region at all,” Kennedy insisted.
