A spectacular Washington Post report notes that the new U.S. president's first-ever call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull didn't go well — and that's putting it lightly.
If there's any country whose leader can be expected to enjoy a cordial phone call with the president of the United States, it should be Australia, which shares a long-standing alliance with Washington. The two countries have fought on the same side in multiple major wars for more than a hundred years. Moreover, Australia is part of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing agreement, which also comprises Canada, New Zealand,and the United Kingdom.
According to the Post, Trump went as far as to tell Turnbull that "This was the worst call by far," on a day when he had spoken to multiple other world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump, incredibly, hung up on Turnbull abruptly. The issue that led to Trump's explosion against Turnbull was an agreement over refugee transfers to the U.S. that had been concluded under the Obama administration. Australia, per the agreement, would transfer 1,250 refugees to the U.S.