As promised, I read the transcript of the January 28th phone conversation between Trump and the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Trumbull.

I don't approve of the publication of these transcripts, but since they are out there, I wanted to be sure I knew what was in them so that I wouldn't be affected by distortions in what is and isn't reported elsewhere. My discussion of the conversation between Trump and the Mexican President is here. So now let's look at the conversation with Turnbull, which is all about the agreement President Obama made with respect to refuges held in prisons on Nauru and Manus Island after they attempted to enter Australia by boat.

As Turnbull makes clear, Australia has a hardcore policy rejecting anyone who arrives by boat. As Trump makes clear, he hates the agreement but feels compelled to follow it. Turnbull attempts to persuade Trump to see that it's a deal that Trump himself should want to endorse, and Trump seems irritated that Turnbull would even attempt to sell that to him. So Turnbull switches to arguing that the deal really isn't so bad. This rubs Trump the wrong way, and even without audio, I hear Trump displaying anger at Turnbull for not just admitting it's a crappy deal and being thankful that the deal will be followed. Maybe Trump is putting on a show. I can't tell. But Trump is demonstrative and Turnbull seems (in writing, at least) to keep his cool while pushing the points that are obviously irking Trump. It's not a good relationship.

That's my quick take. Click for my 14-point summary with quotes.

1. Turnbull says that he and Trump "have similar backgrounds" (as businessmen), and Trump echoes him — "We do have similar backgrounds" — and adds that "it seems to be working in this... crazy climate." Trump switches from the we're-both-businessmen theme to it's a "crazy" time, "an evil time," and a "complex time." He wants to talk about fighting ISIS together.

2. Turnbull offers the idea that he and Trump are "very much of the same mind." He points to the way Trump's Executive Order "prioritize[s] minorities" and how Australia, in taking in 12,000 Syrian refugees, has deliberately preferred Christians. Turnbull brags that he has "been very open about it." Trump relates to this not by saying that he wants to prefer Christians but that the United States has been discriminating against Christians from Syria. They've have had "no chance of getting into the United States," something Trump finds "incredible."

3. Turnbull brings up the prisoners on Nauru and Manus Island and the agreement Obama made. Trump says that keeping that agreement "will make us look awfully bad." You've got "2,000 people that Australia does not want" and "the United States has become like a dumping ground... It is such a bad thing."

4. Turnbull says "The obligation is for the United States to look and examine and take up to and only if they so choose – 1,250 to 2,000. Every individual is subject to your vetting. You can decide to take them or to not take them after vetting." And these people "are basically economic refugees from Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan." But Australia can't take them because they have to have an absolute policy against accepting anyone who arrives by boat, because it needs to squelch the business of smuggling people in (which involves a lot of drowning). Trump says: "That is a good idea. We should do that too. You are worse than I am." That last sentence is a kind of humor. (It's a gesture at the people who think Trump is too hardcore: Trumbull is "worse.")

5. Trump praises Turnbull for protecting his country from destruction. He compares Australia to Germany, where "people are crazy." Trump says he knows that Merkel "wishes she did not do it." How many Syrian migrants have been allowed into Germany? Trumbull says one million, and Trump says it could be 2 million. Germany "will never be the same."

6. Trump asks Turnbull why the resettlement agreement is "so important": "I do not understand. This is going to kill me. I am the world’s greatest person that does not want to let people into the country. 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." Turnbull says the number is actually lower. It's 1,250. And you don't have to take any of them if they don't pass our vetting. And: "I think that what you could say is that the Australian government is consistent with the principles set out in the Executive Order."

7. Trump refuses to say anything positive about the agreement. In fact, he's going tell the public: "I hate it" and "unfortunately I will have to live with what was said by Obama." He adds "I hate taking these people" and (implausibly) "I guarantee you they are bad. That is why they are in prison right now." If they're so plainly bad, they won't pass the vetting, and the agreement won't require them to take them in. Why go on about how bad he's sure they are? Turnbull calls him on this: "I would not be so sure" that they're bad people.  

8. Trump rants about how bad the deal is, and Turbull tries to get back to the idea he began with, business: "But can I say to you, there is nothing more important in business or politics than a deal is a deal." Trump starts talking about politics, the 2016 election: This is how the Democrat lost the election. But then he takes up the business theme: "You have brokered many a stupid deal in business and I respect you, but I guarantee that you broke many a stupid deal. This is a stupid deal. This deal will make me look terrible." So he resists the old saw "a deal is a deal."

9. Turnbull tries to talk up the idea that Trump should want to "look like a man who stands by the commitments of the United States." Sticking to the deal "shows that you are a committed..." Trump breaks in and rants:

Okay, this shows me to be a dope. I am not like this but, if I have to do it, I will do it but I do not like this at all. I will be honest with you. Not even a little bit. I think it is ridiculous and Obama should have never signed it. The only reason I will take them is because I have to honor a deal signed by my predecessor and it was a rotten deal. I say that it was a stupid deal like all the other deals that this country signed. You have to see what I am doing. I am unlocking deals that were made by people, these people were incompetent. I am not going to say that it fits within the realm of my Executive Order. We are going to allow 2,000 prisoners to come into our country and it is within the realm of my Executive Order? If that is the case my Executive Order does not mean anything.... I look like a dope. The only way that I can do this is to say that my predecessor made a deal and I have no option then to honor the deal. I hate having to do it, but I am still going to vet them very closely. Suppose I vet them closely and I do not take any?

You can see in those last 2 sentences that Trump knows the deal isn't really that bad because it has a big loophole. Why not just use the loophole? Vet them and reject them. Turnbull is all: "That is the point I have been trying to make."

10. Will Turnbull accept that performance of the deal? "How does that help you?" Trump asks. Turnbull says he assumes there will be good faith (that is, presumably, serious vetting, not just purporting to vet them and then rejecting them all). Turnbull repeats that these are economic refugees. Trump complains again that it makes the U.S. seem "like a dumping ground for the rest of the world" and that he looks "so foolish doing this."

11. Turnbull, returning to the businessman theme, tries again to coax Trump to think of the deal as not just binding, but actually good: "I am a highly transactional businessman like you and I know the deal has to work for both sides. Now Obama thought this deal worked for him...." As before, Trump isn't buying that. He goes back to complaining that our country makes bad deals, not just this one, but the START Treaty and the Iran deal. He says "I do not know where they find these people to make these stupid deals." We're getting nowhere.

12. Turnbull seems to graciously accept he's not going to get anything more than Trump's honoring the deal: "You can certainly say that it was not a deal that you would have done, but you are going to stick with it." Trump chooses not to be gracious and say that's what he'll do and be done with it, but he continues in what comes across as a ranting style that ends in unnecessary complaining about Turnbull:

I have no choice to say that about it.... 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. 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 [sic]. 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... this is crazy.

13. Turnbull tries to change the subject to Syria or DPRK, but Trump is talking over him, so Turnbull tries to close the discussion with "Thank you for your commitment. It is very important to us." But that triggers Trump: "It is important to you and it is embarrassing to me. It is an embarrassment to me, but at least I got you off the hook. So you put me back on the hook." That's not adding anything new to the discussion, just repeating Trump's main point that it was a bad deal.

14. Turnbull tries to soothe him: "You can count on me. I will be there again and again." Trump accepts the soothing: "I hope so. Okay, thank you Malcolm." And Turnbull says "Okay, thank you" which ends the conversation.