South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa stepped into the White House on Wednesday as the latest victim of Trump’s bully tactics as he was confronted with false claims of “white genocide” in his homeland.
After pleasantries were exchanged between the two regarding South African golfers, Ramaphosa said he wanted to talk about critical minerals and trade.
Trump then quickly had staffers pull up a video that claimed to show white farmers in South Africa as victims of genocide.
Trump claimed the video showed the graves of thousands of white farmers. Ramaphosa said he had not seen that before, and that he would like to find out what the location was.
Trump then pulled out a trove of “news articles” that purportedly showed white South Africans who had been killed. As he flipped through the pages, Trump kept saying, “Death. Death. Death.”
Ramaphosa invokes Nelson Mandela’s name in the hope of a peaceful talk about problems, but Trump is preoccupied with thoughts of free airplanes.
Ramaphosa said there was crime in South Africa, and the majority of victims were Black. Trump cut him off and said: “The farmers are not Black.”
Ramaphosa responded: “These are concerns we are willing to talk to you about.”
Trump has criticized and accused South Africa of seizing land from white farmers as the government has attempted to address the injustices of apartheid with land reform laws.
Ramaphosa’s government says the accusations “fail to recognise South Africa’s profound and painful history,” meaning its long history of domination by white colonialists, enshrined in the “apartheid” system.
Meanwhile, Trump has cancelled aid to South Africa and offered refuge to white minority Afrikaners.
