Donald Trump – the Orange Mandela?

Diplomatic heads are still spinning following Donald Trump’s extraordinary Oval Office press conference with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday. The media has taken to using the word “ambush” to describe the way Trump sprung his evidence on Ramaphosa to make the point that white South Africans are being violently persecuted.

The scene turned into gemors, as they say in Afrikaans, or chaos, and reminded many observers of the wild meeting between Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in the same room back in February.

Ramaphosa had wanted to perform the usual niceties, flanked by a delegation including three white South African golfers, Elon Musk, some of his officials, his minister for agriculture John Henry Steenhuisen and the luxury goods billionaire Johann Rupert.

Ramaphosa talked about investment, critical minerals, supporting Ukraine and his wish to “recalibrate” US-SA relations and thank Trump for sending respirators to his country during the pandemic. The South Africans also offered the President a large book about golf.

Trump, with Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the sofa beside him, had other matters on his mind. When the questions came, a reporter asked what it would take for Trump to “be convinced that there is no white genocide in South Africa.”

Ramaphosa volunteered: “It will take President Trump listening to the voices of South Africans, some of whom are good friends like those that are here.

“If there was Afrikaner farmer genocide in South Africa, I can bet you: these three gentleman would not be here, including the minister for agriculture,” he added, gesturing at Steenhuisen and others.

That’s when Trump said “dim the lights” and asked his assistant, the so-called “human printer” Natalie Harp, to play a video montage showing Julius Malema, the communist leader of the opposition – the Economic Freedom Fighters – and others firing up large crowds through violent incantations against white South Africans.

“These are burial sites,” narrated Trump, as the video went on. “Approximately a thousand of them. They’re all white farmers. It’s a terrible sight. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Have they told you where that is, Mr. President?” asked Ramaphosa. “I’d like to know where that is, because this I have never seen.”

“It’s in South Africa,” replied Trump, the Orange answer to Nelson Mandela, matter-of-factly. It turns out that the footage was not in fact a cemetery but a symbolic protest from white farmers following the murder of Glen and Vida Rafferty.

After a brief distraction about Qatar giving Trump’s America a $400 million jet to replace Air Force One, the Commander-in-Chief started leafing through printouts about violence against white South Africans: “Death, death, death, horrible death, I don’t know.” One of the stories he held up, fact-checkers have delighted in pointing out, showed an image from a report about women being murdered in the Congo. 

“That is not government policy,” Ramaphosa tried to explain. “They’re a small minority. There is criminality in our country.”

There followed a long, barmy exchange, including an intervention from Johann Rupert in support of Ramaphosa. It’s worth watching in full.

Elon Musk stood behind the furniture, silent, glaring at Ramaphosa. One can’t help but wonder about his role in raising the plight of white Afrikaner farmers within the White House. Yesterday, The Spectator’s Ben Clerkin spoke to Musk’s father, Errol, about the event. “I talk to Elon and tell him what the situation is in South Africa, and he talks to Trump,” said Errol, who has a complicated relationship with his son – to put it mildly.

Musk’s formal time in the White House is meant to be over. Earlier this week, he told a conference in Qatar that he was pulling back from giving political donations. Was Trump’s stunt in the Oval Office – and it was a stunt – a gesture of gratitude towards Musk? Many white South Africans, fearful of more violence from left-wing radicals in their country, have been eager to dismiss the term “genocide” as hyperbole and to point out that far more black people are killed in South Africa every month. Trump and Musk see matters differently. That’s unlikely to change, fact-checkers be damned.

Still, as so often happens in Trumpworld, the craziness was quickly subsumed by another shocking story: the murder of two Israeli officials in Washington, DC, last night.

The suspect, identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez, was seen pacing around outside the US capital’s Jewish Museum in the minutes before he started shooting in last night’s attack. Two Israeli embassy staffers – a couple, named as Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, who were reportedly soon to be engaged – were killed at the scene. Rodriguez then walked into the museum, where he was briefly mistaken for an innocent bystander before being apprehended by the police. According to Pamela Smith, DC’s chief of police, he shouted “free, free Palestine” as he was taken into custody.

The couple had been attending an event inside the building, described online as a “Young Diplomats Reception” for Jewish professionals between the ages of 22 and 45. Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, has called it “a depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism.” President Trump said on Truth Social: “These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on anti-Semitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA. Condolences to the families of the victims. So sad that such things as this can happen!”

Kristi Noem, US Secretary of Homeland Security, and FBI director Kash Patel both said their teams were investigating the murders. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared: “Make no mistake – we will track down those responsible and bring them to justice.” Attorney General Pam Bondi last night visited the scene of the crime. “Praying for the victims of this violence as we work to learn more,” she wrote on social media.

More details about the victims and Mr. Rodriguez, a left-wing activist from Chicago, Illinois, will emerge in the coming hours. In 2017, according to reports, the suspect attended a march in Chicago as a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a Marxist-Leninist organization that campaigns against Israel’s actions in the Middle East.

Last night’s murders fit a pattern of increasingly rabid anti-Semitic attacks against Jews in America, often on university campuses and organized by radical left-wing groups. These incidents tend to be motivated by a demented sense of grievance about the war in Gaza. The Israeli Embassy in Washington has also attracted many protests in recent months.

The crime comes at a delicate moment in international relations concerning the Middle East. Having long supported Israel as America’s close ally, Trump and some members of his administration have recently begun expressing their concerns about a humanitarian crisis for Palestinians. The Trump administration has also reportedly fallen out with Benjamin Netanyahu over the US President’s closeness to Qatar and America’s eagerness to pursue a peace deal with Iran instead of supporting an Israeli attack on Tehran’s nuclear facilities.

The latest reports from the region suggest Israel is preparing an imminent military assault on Iran. Quite how the latest violence in America’s capital will play into that tense diplomatic situation remains to be seen. For now, though, the Trump administration is keen to signal that it stands with Israel – and that domestic anti-Semitism will not be tolerated.

The above is taken from Freddy Gray’s weekly Americano newsletter. To subscribe click here.