Trump's Deal-Making Fantasy Falls Flat in Encounter with Cyril Ramaphosa

Strategic Insights -

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, a seasoned negotiator and former lead negotiator in the talks that ended apartheid in South Africa, held a meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office, but Trump hijacked the discussion to focus on a racist fantasy of white South Africans suffering genocide. Ramaphosa, known for his ability to find common ground and make hard choices, remained remarkably composed throughout the encounter.

Key Takeaways:

  • Trump's plan was to ambush Ramaphosa with a video showing an opposition party leader, Julius Malema, leading a crowd in a chant that Trump claimed supports the view that white people face genocidal violence in South Africa. However, the video was misleading, as Malema was long ago expelled from the African National Congress and his party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, has been rejected by the A.N.C.
  • The Economic Freedom Fighters, a radical party that advocates for the seizure and redistribution of white land without compensation, lost supporters in the last general election in South Africa, falling from third to fourth largest party in parliament.
  • The real xenophobic rage driving politics in South Africa is directed primarily at poor migrants from other African countries, who have become convenient scapegoats for the intractable inequality that has long defined South Africa.
  • Ramaphosa's party, the African National Congress, has maintained power since the end of apartheid in 1994 but lost its majority last year and formed a coalition government with its archrival, the Democratic Alliance, a party deeply associated with white wealth.
  • Trump was unmoved by the attempts of multiple white members of the delegation to persuade him that his fears of white genocide were misplaced, and instead, he used the meeting to make memes and score points with his most rabid fans.

Statistics:

  • The top 10% of the country in South Africa controls 86% of its wealth, a staggering gap between the rich and the poor.
  • The United States is an unreliable partner and a source of chaos, and if the US abandons its seat at the G20 table, countries will turn elsewhere to build new security and trade alliances that don't depend on the inconstant, waning superpower.
  • The G20 countries represent 80% of the global population and produce more than 85% of the world's economic output.

Sources:

  • An article in The World Bank Economic Review.
  • A report published in The Times that examined wealth distribution in South Africa from the end of apartheid to 2017.
  • A statement made by Cyril Ramaphosa at the end of the meeting with Trump.
  • An article in The New York Times Opinion section.