In February, Trump issued an executive order freezing aid to South Africa and giving Afrikaners refugee status in the U.S.
Afrikaners are a white ethnic group with primarily Dutch ancestry. Many are farmers. Trump said in the meeting that white farmers are having their homes burned, their farms seized, and have either been killed or fear for their lives.
South Africa passed a law that allows the government to take land from farmers without compensation.
The Washington Post minimized the deaths of white farmers, saying violence in South Africa is not isolated to rural areas and not only against white people. Apparently if one group is victimized, then another group is victimized, none of the victimization matters. //
During Wednesday’s Oval Office meeting, filled with members of the media, Trump said Ramaphosa called him and asked for the meeting. After brief conversation, a reporter asked Trump what it would take to convince him that there’s no white genocide in South Africa.
Trump said the administration has heard thousands of stories about violence against white farmers. Then he had the lights dimmed and showed Ramaphosa videos of people in South Africa calling for the killing of white farmers.
In the video, Julius Malema, leader of the Marxist Economic Freedom Fighter Party, led a violent chant inside a large stadium , as supporters danced and chanted along.
“Shoot to kill the farmer! Go after the white man! You are going to run, white farmer.” The video ended with cars lined up on a desolate road with some 1,000 crosses lining the road, each representing a dead farmer, Trump relayed. In the cars were family members there to mourn.
Ramaphosa asked where the line of cars was, saying he had never seen it before.
Next there was silence in the room for about 40 seconds.
Silence is a powerful moment in negotiation. Whoever breaks silence first loses. Trump told Ramaphosa before the troubling video that he wanted to know what he had to say about it. Now a pall fell over the room as everyone, the president, the media, the world waited for Ramaphosa to speak.
And the loser was: NBC’s Peter Alexander, who broke the silence, changed the topic, and ruined the moment, but saved Ramaphosa.
“Mr. President, the Pentagon announced they would be accepting a Qatari jet to be used as Air Force One —”
Trump cut him off, saying the jet was a great thing.
“We’re talking about a lot of other things here. This is NBC trying to get off the subject of what you just saw,” Trump said. //
Ramaphosa said the U.S. could help with resources so the government can respond to the violence but did not specify if he wanted money or equipment.
He is asking for aid to combat violence the propaganda press says doesn’t exist.
