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The roller-coaster that is dealing with a Trump presidency just took another stomach-clenching dip.
Trying to get to know a White House deliberately staffed by outsiders, Australian officials had placed a lot of store in Michael Flynn as someone well-disposed to Australia occupying the crucial job of National Security Adviser.
President Trump's national security adviser Michael Flynn resigns after reports he misled Trump administration officials about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the US.
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President Trump's national security adviser Michael Flynn resigns after reports he misled Trump administration officials about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the US.
Australian ambassador to Washington Joe Hockey is set to praise the "value of mateship" at a speech in Chicago this week on the US-Australia relationship, and it's a safe bet he hoped to count Flynn as a mate.
Flynn, after all, was the battlefield commander in Afghanistan who in 2010 broke with the chain of command to share sensitive US intelligence with Australian soldiers.
He was lauded by former Australian army chief Peter Leahy in January as among a modern breed of "fighting generals" with little time for bureaucracies or the politics of Washington.
Flynn was also in the room for Donald Trump's now infamous phone call with Malcolm Turnbull and was hoped to be a voice to reinforce the long-standing alliance ties between the two nations.
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But Flynn's slipshod attitude towards proper process has brought him undone - no small event at a time when railing against "fake news" is employed as an excuse to cover up all manner of mistakes.
Flynn had special notoriety on this score. "Flynn Facts" was the nickname given to his penchant for conspiracy theories and unwavering confidence in his own righteousness long before "post-truth" became a phrase of the mainstream.
Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, with deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland, was seen as a friend to Australia. Photo: AP
But despite what some saw as his dangerous and confrontational ideas, there was still hope, in the manner of sensible official advice to make sense of what are unsettling times, that Flynn was a man Australia could deal with.
No more. His resignation in disgrace over what he did or didn't tell Russia's ambassador only underscores the difficulty of searching out the comforting and familiar at a moment of radical change.
Australia's ambassador to Washington Joe Hockey will praise the "value of mateship" at a speech in Chicago this week. Photo: Wolter Peeters
The lesson for Australia is simple. While it's nice to go to the carnival with friends, we will have to get accustomed to hanging on alone for a wild ride.
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