It isn’t always easy to keep up with what’s happening in the US. “Shorter America” is a series where Dr Emma Shortis loops you in on what’s going on in America and shares news and analysis that you can trust.
Fri 5 Jun 2026 09.45 AEST
Photo: The White House/Flickr
Trump is still stuck in a loop in Iran, while Australia seems to be stuck in a doom-spiral over the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine deal.
This week:
What are we even doing? Last weekend, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles announced that instead of getting a mix of old and new Virginia-class submarines from the United States as envisioned by the “Optimal Pathway” implementation plan, the allies had agreed they’d get three secondhand ones. Cue jokes about op-shop submarines, imagine the smell of a used submarine, etc.
I wrote about that announcement in Guardian Australia this week, and the jarring choice Marles made to emulate the language of his “good friend”, Pete Hegseth – who he called the “Secretary of War”, even though that’s a made-up title. Marles echoed Hegseth’s use of the term “warfighter” instead of soldier, sailor, troops or whatever.
Here’s a little reminder of exactly who we’re dealing with and why choosing to call him a “good friend” and repeating his favourite phrases is…a choice.
Speaking of language – Senator David Shoebridge was in Senate Estimates this week, decrying the violence AUKUS does, not only to Australia’s budget and sovereignty, but to the English language itself. “A variety of constrained optimal pathways”, indeed.
There’s an enormous gulf between Marles’ language about the US alliance and his “good friend” Pete Hegseth, and what the Australian people are thinking and feeling about that relationship. Back in May, polling research by The Australia Institute found that 59% of Australians would prefer a more independent foreign policy over a closer alliance with the United States. Only 13% think the United States is a “very reliable” ally.
That vast disconnect is also plaguing the Democrats in their primaries. In The Nation, Matt Duss wrote a great column about the Party’s failure to reckon with Gaza. In the New York Times, our regular favourites Jamelle Bouie and Tressie McMillam Cotton are also having this discussion.
Just for a break from the nonsense (actually, just for a different kind of nonsense), I loved this episode of Pop Syllabus on the Kardashians.
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Australia will now receive three second-hand Virginia-class, nuclear-powered submarines in the coming years, instead of the original deal of two used vessels and one brand new sub. Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles spun this as a welcome streamlining of the fleet that would simplify its supply chain, as well as the management and sustainment of these complex warships.
This morning at Parliament House in Canberra, I was honoured to help launch a public inquiry into AUKUS. This public inquiry is not optional. It is overdue and a response to the government’s failure to hold a Parliamentary one.
