
White House labels Turnbull the 'President of Australia'
JUST days after being called Trumble, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has again gotten the ice-cold treatment from U.S leadership as it mistakenly labelled him President of Australia.
The White House released a list of the world leaders President Donald Trump has spoken to in his first two weeks in office.
Turnbull was the only leader not to be named on the list, on top of the mistaken title.
Not only does Trump's list of foreign leaders say Australia's "president" (it's prime minister), he's the only leader not personally named pic.twitter.com/TtGM4ZgfQv
— Amber Jamieson (@ambiej) February 4, 2017
Given Turnbull's history of support for the Australian Republic movement, plenty of pundits thought he might like the title change.
In the republic debate of the 90s Malcolm Turnbull was widely seen as the first president of Australia so CONGRATS MALCOLM, YOU DID IT 🇦🇺
— John Johnsonson (@JohnJohnsonson) February 5, 2017
And given Turnbull's dealings with Trump so far, plenty of people on social media mused that perhaps the new president would speak to anyone other than the LNP leader.
Trump labelled his first phone call with Turnbull, generally seen as a formality between two staunch allies, the worst one so far.
He cut the phone call from an hour to only 25 minutes over pressure to stick to a deal to resettle refugees Australia had processed at detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru.
The phone call attracted plenty of attention world wide after its disastrous details were leaked to the Washington Post.
I reckon if someone called the White House claiming to be "President of Australia" they'd have a good chance of speaking to Trump #auspol
— Craig Thomler (@craigthomler) February 4, 2017
The latest case of mistaken identity was a chance for other social media users to drag up another of the Trump administrations errors from earlier in the week, when senior adviser Kellyanne Conway referenced a massacre that never happened.
Tonight on Sixty Minutes: the President of Australia's lucky escape from the Bowling Green Massacre
— Rick Eyre (@rickeyre) February 5, 2017
Others adopted the alternative name for Turnbull that Trump's press secretary used in official press conferences throughout the week. While trying to reassure Americans of Trump's respect for the Australian people, Spicer twice called Turnbull by the wrong name.
He called Turnbull by two incorrect names - Trunbull and Trumble, in two separate conferences.
'I have great respect for Prime Minister #Trumble and the people of Austria.'
— Blair Jones (@blairjones640) February 3, 2017
