Ramaphosa Under Fire: Trump’s oval office ambush over ‘White Genocide’
Outlets like Common Dreams and RT claim that Trump “ambushed” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Trump didn’t sneak up on him as he walked out of his house. Ramaphosa walked into Trump’s office. Trump’s goals were clear. I wrote yesterday that he was pushing the phony “white genocide” narrative to:
Retaliate against South Africa for going to the ICJ regarding the actual genocide in Gaza, to get them to back off more.
Cheapen the public discourse over “genocide” — helping turn it into just another meaningless slur.
Make it seem like Trump is standing up for alleged oppressed white folks, to play to some white working-class voters who don’t perceive that it’s actually — again — for Israel (similar to how they repackaged Palestine protests as an immigration issue).
Push back against BRICS to the extent it’s challenging US establishment dominance, or appears to be doing so.
He lectured him on alleged abuses in South Africa and Ramaphosa was at best doing a diplomatic defense.
Ramaphosa should have been wagging his finger at Trump over a real, accelerating genocide in which Trump plays a central role — ISRAEL IS KILLING SCORES OF PEOPLE EVERY DAY — instead, he let Trump wag his finger at him about a fake one.
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And Trump came off as “fact-based” with alleged video and paper evidence. No serious pushback from the South African delegation, in stark contrast to the performance of the South African legal team at the ICJ last year.
When Trump showed video purporting, but not actually showing “white genocide”, Ramaphosa couldn’t pull out his iPad and show some videos of latest carnage in Gaza that Trump makes happen, apparently. Actually, any of his delegation could have whipped out their phone.
In fact, Ramaphosa could make no mention of Gaza, Israel or the ICJ, even though there was a question about it. This is how the pro-war right holds itself. Trump “called him out” on “white genocide” with “the receipts” and his response was so pathetic the charge seems believable, especially since neither talked about the actual genocide raised.
Worse than that, after the meeting with Trump, Ramaphosa said he complimented Trump on his “peace building in the Middle East … We said we compliment you on the efforts you’re making.”
READ ALSO: Trump lies, US empowers Israeli genocide in Gaza – Iran’s Supreme Leader
Part of Trump’s line was that the white farmers were having their land taken away from them and being killed — a complete projection of what Israel is actually doing.
But the outcome might not be horrible for Ramaphosa.
Patrick Bond just described him to me as a “corporate tool” who is still supplying Israel with coal and is after deals with Trump.
Ramaphosa’s delegation kept going back to wanting a “reset” even though Trump had put out an executive order “Addressing Egregious Actions of The Republic of South Africa” chastising them for, among other things, invoking the Genocide Convention against Israel.
Ramaphosa and his delegation kept talking about wanted trade deals, how the US has such a big economy. They talked about how crime was a problem in South Africa that affected people of all ethnicities, which is good — and then said that part of the solutions are tech solutions that Trump might be able to help with.
This dovetailed with Trump calling on South African billionaire Johann Rupert who said: “It’s not only white farmers. We need technological help. We need Starlink at every little police station.”
As Elon Musk, dominant owner of SpaceX, which owns Starlink, looked on. See “’You Can’t Hide’: Elon Musk & Space X Are Helping US Intelligence Build the World’s Largest Spy Satellite Network” from The Last American Vagabond.
I suspect long-term, just as fabrications about “beheaded babies” provided the pretext for Israel’s extermination of thousands of Palestinian babies in Gaza, false charges of “white genocide” will provide some of the justification for a renewed imperialism.
As I’ve argued, Palestine is central now because it is fighting the tip of the spear of the settler colonial project.
So: Instead of Israel committing a genocide as South Africa charges, it’s now that Palestine is an immigration issue and genocide is something that Trump accuses South Africa of. Quite a turnaround — enabled by the president of South Africa.
If Ramaphosa wants to make up for this pathetic performance, he should immediately have South Africa’s legal team move to get emergency orders to stop Israel at the ICJ as I wrote yesterday. But maybe he’s happy playing the role of corporate tool.
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