Once one of our most popular prime ministers, before experiencing stunning and repeated political rejection, Kevin Rudd has been out of the spotlight for years. But that was before Donald Trump let rip with a string of invectives against Rudd, in an interview last week. 

It was a conversation that unleashed a barrage of think pieces. Why did Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appoint Rudd as the ambassador to the United States in the first place? And how can he possibly advance our interests in the White House now? 

Today, foreign affairs and national security correspondent Matthew Knott on Kevin Rudd, the one-time power player who was cast-out to the political wilderness and is now back in the spotlight.