Australia has long been one of America’s closest and most reliable friends. That means we can see the Trump administration for what it is.

More than half of Australians now believe that President Donald Trump is a greater threat to global security than Russian President Vladimir Putin (17 per cent) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (16 per cent).

Most of us view the leader of our most important security ally and the world’s most important democracy as a greater threat to world peace than the leaders of the world’s two most powerful authoritarian states.

Australians recognise the real risks of remaining in such a close security alliance with Trump’s bleak and violent version of America.

Most Australians – 59 per cent – now believe that Australia’s interests are better served by a more independent foreign policy over a closer alliance with the United States.

A clear majority also believe that the US is an unreliable security ally. Only 13 per cent think of it as “very reliable”.

And we are voting with our feet. The number of Australians visiting America has more than halved.

This is a seismic shift in how Australians perceive America.

Australians are not grateful to Trump

Australia has followed the US into nearly every war it has fought since the end of the Second World War, no matter where, no matter why, no matter when. Australia went “all the way with LBJ” in Vietnam, then followed the George W. Bush administration into its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, leaving only when America did.

That unquestioning loyalty was driven by a blind faith in American power, and Australia’s relative lack of it. Some of it was driven by hope and........

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