On Thursday morning, The Washington Post published an annotated transcript of President Donald Trump’s call with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a week after his inauguration.
The call between the two world leaders was anything but diplomatic, with Mr Trump laying into the PM over a refugee deal between Australia and then-US president, Barack Obama.
Mr Trump raged that the deal – which involves a commitment for the US to take 1,250 refugees from Nauru – was “the worst deal ever.”
According to the transcript, the call began amicably enough with Trump and Turnbull chatting about their mutual acquaintance, Australian golf legend Greg Norman.
“I guess our friend Greg Norman, he is doing very well?” Trump asked.
“He is a great mutual friend, yes,” Turnbull responded.
But the call quickly took a turn for the worse as Mr Trump insisted the deal was going to make him “look bad,” “weak” and appear as an “ineffective leader.”
“This is going to kill me. I am the world’s greatest person that does not want to let people into the country,” he said. “And now I am agreeing to take 2,000 people and I agree I can vet them, but that puts me in a bad position. It makes me look so bad and I have only been here a week.”
The scene of the history-making phone call.
Mr Trump, who appeared to struggle to comprehend the full parameters surrounding the refugee resettlement deal, said he hates “taking these people.”
“I guarantee you they are bad. That is why they are in prison right now,” he said. “They are not going to be wonderful people who go on to work for the local milk people.”
Failing to understand Australia’s asylum seeker policy, he went on to ask why the Australian government hadn’t freed the detainees if they were deemed safe.
Mr Turnbull replied: “So we said if you try to come to Australia by boat, even if we think you are the best person in the world, even if you are a Noble [sic] Prize winning genius, we will not let you in.”
At this point, Mr Trump appeared to agree with the PM’s hardline approach to asylum-seekers.
“That is a good idea,” he said. “We should do that too. You are worse than I am.”
WATCH: The call continues to capture headlines and was even featured on SNL. Post continues…
The 28-minute conversation ended abruptly, with Mr Trump reluctantly agreeing to honour the “horrible” and “disgusting” deal.
“I am going to say that I have no choice but to honor my predecessor’s deal. I think it is a horrible deal, a disgusting deal that I would have never made,” he said. “It is an embarrassment to the United States of America and you can say it just the way I said it. I will say it just that way as far as I am concerned that is enough Malcom.”
He added: “I have had it. I have been making these calls all day and this is the most unpleasant call all day. Putin was a pleasant call. This is ridiculous.”
Mr Turnbull attempted to close the phone call on a positive note, saying: “Thank you for your commitment. It is very important to us.”
Several days later, Mr Trump famously took to Twitter saying he would “study the dumb deal.”
