We got another round of extraordinary scenes coming out of Donald Trump’s Oval Office yesterday. During his meeting with Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s President, Trump asked his staffers to press play on video footage showing what appeared to be violent chants against white farmers.
‘We have thousands of stories talking about it, we have documentaries, we have news stories,’ the US President said over the audio. He would not let President Ramaphosa look away. The footage went on, to which President Ramaphosa finally responded: ‘This is not government policy.’ President Trump did not let up. ‘They’re being executed and they happen to be white, and most of them happen to be farmers, and that’s a tough situation.’
Trump’s Oval Office is the new wild west in politics
The exchange has revived the debate around what is really happening in South Africa. Trump calls it a ‘genocide’, recently offering 59 farmers refugee status in the United States.
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