THE Hunter’s One Nation Senator Brian Burston is on his way to US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20 in his leader Pauline Hanson’s place, and with some advice to the most powerful man in the world.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
“The trouble he’s been in is self-inflicted to a certain extent with all that Twittering. He’s using Twitter as a normal person would and he’s about to be President,” Mr Burston said after confirming he has two tickets to the Trump inauguration.
“He’s got to try and stop being reactive and not jump down people’s throats when they give him a serve.”
Mr Burston said it was “amazing and extraordinary” to be going to the inauguration in snowy and freezing Washington after a phone call on Monday, and only a few months after becoming an Australian Senator.
“I don’t know if I’ll be on the main stage or where we’ll be but it’s ticketed. I don’t know much more than that until we get there.
“We have an economic adviser who was an adviser to the Trump campaign. He acquired a couple of tickets. Pauline can’t make it so he rang and I was asked if I could go and I said ‘Yeah’. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
He will travel with wife Rosalyn and they will pay their own way, he said.
“It’s not a junket,” he said after recent political travel entitlement controversies.
Mr Burston said a Trump presidency was going to be “interesting to observe” after controversies during a bruising election campaign, Trump’s shock election, and recent further controversies over the Russian hacking scandal and Donald Trump’s responses to criticism by Hollywood actors.
"He’s not a politician. He could be the worst president they ever have but I don’t think you could get any worse than (Jimmy) Carter and (Barack) Obama in my opinion."
- One Nation Senator Brian Burston
“I think if we give him space, if Americans in particular give him some space, they’ll come to see he’s at the top of the political tree and the position commands respect.”
Mr Burston said he had a Twitter account that was used once in August, but “I’m not a great fan of tweets, although social media’s the future”.
Mr Burston will drive to Canberra on Monday evening to pick up a diplomatic passport. He said being elected a Senator and becoming involved in Canberra politics had been “very satisfying”.
“I’d really like to hit my straps this year,” he said.
- This article was first published on The Herald