It's a cultural difference. As a foreigner, the American way of exaggerating everything has always amazed me. They don't even notice themselves, so expect more of these "what's odd about it?" reactions.
I think what sets Trump apart is how straightforward his hyperbole is. It's present throughout American culture but it's usually a bit more subtle. It's even in basic things like answering "How are you?" (in the US, "great!" is a neutral answer and "could be better" would be cause for concern - in e.g. Germany on the other hand, "great!" would prompt a request for elaboration whereas "could be better" would be understood as fairly neutral).
I also haven't seen another country (in Europe at least) where politicians across party lines so frequently emphasize in so many ways how great their country is - not even in a jingoistic way, just as a shared cultural consensus.
Just go look up former prime minister Julia Gillard address US congress.
I cringe every time I rewatch.
(Then again thanks to Wikileaks we now know US were “assessing” whether Gillard would be a good replacement to Rudd a year before it all happened… so I guess that made her a fan!
Our core military strategy is to suck up to naval superpowers in hopes they'll include us in their own defense strategy. It's sound policy, but it means that ultimately we can't afford to piss them off.
Yup. It's a bit like the relationship between Belarus and Russia - perhaps even more supplicative.
Aus sent troops to the invasion of Vietnam too. You dont do that unless you badly want to suck up to the US. Even the UK who will do virtually anything else for the US didnt do that.
How appropriate you have the same monarch as other countries with the same relationship with the US though. I am British and feel the same about our relationship with the US.
Why does Australia need help with defence though? I don't remember any country having conflict or issues with Australia, and it is a remote, hard to reach island anyway.
Anywhere in south east Asia is within China’s grasp, In Asia, which is Next Door and closer than New Zealand, strongly dislike Australia due to supporting East Timorese independence.
Australia is a long time critical ally of the US that has accumulated significant political and social capital and can expect any requests to be considered seriously.
I would guess that simple rate limiting would do the trick for the rest