US media has field day with Turnbull's Trump impersonation
The US media is clearly enjoying leaked footage of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull impersonating Donald Trump's mannerisms at the annual parliamentary Mid-Winter Ball.
The Prime Minister's speech is usually "off the record" but this year the speech was leaked online by journalists who believe they should be able to report on the event.
The audio of the speech circulated quickly and set off a running commentary on social media, with the official account of popular Netflix political drama @HouseofCards tweeting: "There's always a leak", while @AhMcCann posted a picture of eager schoolkids from The Simpsons with the caption: "Australia waiting for Trump to say something about Turnbull".
President Trump, an avid user of Twitter, has yet to formally comment on the leaked footage in which Turnbull mocks the US President's hand mannerisms and style of speech.
Turnbull can be heard parodying the conversation he had with Trump when they met in New York last month: "It was beautiful. It was the most beautiful putting-me-at-ease ever.
"The Donald and I, we are winning and winning in the polls. We are winning so much, we are winning, we are winning like we have never won before ... Not the fake polls. They're the ones we're not winning on."
The New York Times, USA Today, Time, CBS and numerous other American news organisations are running with the story after the video emerged yesterday afternoon.
"Strewth, this is awkward," the Hollywood Reporter wrote.
"By crikey, an audio recording of the Australian prime minister mocking President Trump was leaked," said The New York Post.
"Malcolm Turnbull's next phone call with Donald Trump could be awkward," CNN reported.
Relations have been strained between Trump and Turnbull ever since their now-infamous phone conversation in January when President Trump told the Prime Minister that an agreement between Australia and the Obama administration for the US to resettle 1250 asylum seekers detained in Australian processing camps was a "dumb deal".
