Archive May 21, 2025

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump played a video that he claimed showed that white people were being systematically targeted by President Cyril Ramaphosa, causing farmers to flee to the United States.

The Oval Office’s typically shaky diplomatic setting became a staging ground for Trump’s claim that white South Africans are being persecuted as a result of the unexpected stunt.

The video was put on a large screen by Trump’s staff, who claimed it showed black South Africans discussing genocide while the media was standing by and Ramaphosa was occasionally unable to speak up.

They are white farmers who are fleeing South Africa, which is very sad. But I hope there is a solution, because I am aware that you don’t want that, Trump said.

Ramaphosa tried to speak repeatedly but was drowned out. He once pleaded that they “talk about it very calmly.”

Nelson Mandela taught us that people should sit down around a table and discuss problems whenever they arise. And he went on to say that this is what we should also discuss.

READ ALSO: US Accepts Boeing Jet From Qatar For Use As Air Force One

Following Trump’s and his billionaire, South African-born ally Elon Musk’s vociferous and unfounded accusations of genocide, the South African leader’s visit was touted as a chance to spruce up relations. Elon Musk was also in the Oval Office when Trump and his billionaire ally visited.

In essence, Ramaphosa said, “We are here to rekindle the relationship between the United States and South Africa.”

In an effort to woo the golf-loving US president, he made his way to the White House along with two of South Africa’s top golfers, Johann Rupert and Retief Goosen, both of whom are world-class golfers.

The three prominent Afrikaners who make up Ramaphosa’s delegation have endorsed Trump’s request to “refuge.” Around 50 Afrikaners have already arrived in the US to accept the offer.

Trump made the offer despite the fact that his immigration crackdown has stopped asylum seekers from arriving from the majority of the rest of the world.

According to reports that his government would offer Musk a deal to run his Starlink satellite internet network in the nation, the president of South Africa was also expected to bring gifts.

The Tesla and Space X CEO has accused Pretoria of “openly racist” laws, a reference to post-apartheid policies that were perceived as a hindrance to Starlink’s licensing.

Land law row

Since the US president’s second term in office began, the administration has been torn apart in South Africa.

It has criticized South Africa’s case involving the International Court of Justice’s inquiry into Israel’s genocide in Gaza, cut foreign aid, and imposed tariffs of 31%, and expelled Pretoria’s ambassador after he criticized Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.

A South African land expropriation law signed in January that seeks to correct the historical injustices of white minority rule has been Trump and his team’s main concern.

At Tuesday’s Qatar Economic Forum, Musk, who is in charge of Trump’s radical Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), criticized the land laws.

Why does South Africa have racist laws? he stated.

Despite being only 7.3 percent of the population, land ownership is a contentious issue in South Africa, where the majority of farmland is still owned by white people.

Ramaphosa has refuted Washington’s claim that white-owned land will be arbitrarily sequestered.

Authorities deny that the claims made by right-wing Afrikaner lobby groups that farmers are being killed in targeted killings are untrue.

According to police figures, young black men in urban areas make up the majority of South Africa’s sky-high murder rate.

The Gulf emirate of Qatar offered President Donald Trump’s Boeing 747 for use as an Air Force One on Wednesday, according to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Regarding using an aircraft donated by a foreign power to be used as the highly sensitive presidential plane, Qatar’s offer for the jet, which is valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, has raised serious constitutional and ethical concerns.

According to a statement from a Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, the Secretary of Defense has accepted a Boeing 747 from Qatar in accordance with all federal laws and regulations.

According to Parnell, who referred to the US Air Force, “The Department of Defense will work to make sure proper security measures and functional-mission requirements are considered for an aircraft used to transport the President of the United States.”

In a section known as the Emoluments Clause, the US Constitution forbids government officials from accepting gifts from “any King, Prince, or foreign State.”

Read more about Trump’s appointment of the leader and the $175 billion design of the Golden Dome defense shield.

Trump, however, has said it would be “stupid” for the US government to not accept the plane, saying there are no moral concerns with accepting it.

When asked if the oil-rich Gulf state would expect anything in exchange, the 78-year-old billionaire responded, “It’s a great gesture.”

That kind of an offer would never be turned down by me,” I said. I mean, I could be a moron and say, “No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.”

Trump’s use of the aircraft would be prohibited by the leader of the Democratic minority in the US Senate, which was introduced earlier this week.

The Pentagon would be unable to use taxpayer funds to retrofit any aircraft that had previously been owned by a foreign government for use as the presidential plane under Chuck Schumer’s Presidential Airlift Security Act.

Schumer stated in a statement that “Donald Trump has demonstrated time and time again that he will sell out the American people and the presidency if it means putting money into his own pockets.”

There are no guarantees that this plane will be secure, despite the fact that it would require billions of taxpayer dollars to attempt to retrofit and secure it.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Trump supporter, is not required to introduce the bill to the floor of the upper chamber despite the fact that several Republicans have expressed concerns about the proposed gift.

However, Schumer intends to compel a vote by including it as a provisional amendment to spending bills that Republicans will need to pass later in the year.