Political statements are not credentials but I acknowledge that...

Political statements are not credentials but I acknowledge that beliefs can on occasion play a relevant role in a selection process.

Again, I'm not going to go into bat for Kevin Rudd personally or politically, he's had some lowpoints and wasn't quite as outstanding as perhaps he and others might wish him to look. But why would you think that the United States didn't give the tick of approval to this appointment prior to its filling? Who else that has filled this role had a better cv than the latest appointee for you to score this one so poorly?

How many times do you think the Australian Ambassador to the United States under a Democratic president would need to be worried about introducing Rupert Murdoch or Donald Trump to an audience? How often do you think this would happen in a DeSantis Presidency? Or even a Trump reincarnation? And, if required, why do you think he wouldn't do it, or even be ambarrassed by it? One thing Mr Rudd and his predecessors in this role have in common is that none of them were idiots.