Ramaphosa remained calm despite Trump's aggressive behavior

 

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with Donald Trump

Three months into Donald Trump's second term, world leaders should now understand that being invited to the Oval Office is not just an honor. Rather, it carries with it the risk of public humiliation.

White House meetings can sometimes be provocative and embarrassing. The meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was the ultimate example. That meeting on Wednesday seemed like a stage set up to harass him.

However, this time, the extras included suddenly turning off the lights, playing a long video on a big screen, and bringing out a pile of old news clippings.

It is clear from the entire preparation that this entire scene was created in advance.

The two presidents were having a somewhat normal conversation in front of the television cameras when a journalist asked whether Donald Trump could be convinced that the "white genocide" in South Africa was baseless.

The South African president was the first to answer this question. He said that Mr. Trump "needs to listen to the people of South Africa" ​​to verify the truth of this matter.

That's when Donald Trump ordered his assistant, "Turn off the lights, turn on the TV." He wanted to show South African leader Mr. Ramaphosa "something."

Donald Trump shows Mr. Ramaphosa the news about "white genocide"

Donald Trump's advisor Elon Musk, a South African-born billionaire, sat as a silent spectator on the back sofa the entire time.

Immediately after this, a highly planned and well-crafted accusation was brought forward by the US President about the alleged oppression of whites in South Africa.

Last February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was summoned to the White House and treated in a similarly aggressive manner.

This time, in the episode, which lasted for more than an hour, Donald Trump continued to show one video and photo after another about the oppression of white farmers in South Africa.

A video played on a large screen shows some South African leaders singing the song "Shoot the Boer." Although the song is a symbol of the anti-apartheid movement, Donald Trump has used it as an example of white supremacy.

Donald Trump usually distrusts the media. But this time he happily used that report as 'evidence'. When asked where these so-called mass graves are? He simply replied, "South Africa."

He also assumes that the people seen in the video are all in government and have the power to take away the land from white farmers. But this is not true at all.

Various images and videos on "White Genocide" are being shown on the
big screen

Ramaphosa did, however, approve a controversial law this year that allows land acquisition without compensation, but the law has yet to be implemented.

He has also publicly distanced himself from the controversial political speeches shown in the video, but he was prepared for this meeting.

He is not only the president of South Africa, but also a close associate of Nelson Mandela, the leader of the country's anti-apartheid movement, and he is the negotiator who played a key role in ending white minority rule in South Africa.

Donald Trump often fails to understand the strategic compliments of other countries' leaders, and this time Cyril Ramaphosa has exploited this.

Donald Trump loves to play golf, as everyone knows, so when Cyril Ramaphosa brought two top golfers, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, to the table to discuss diplomacy and trade policy, it didn't seem like a closed-door discussion.

And, despite the attack on the South African president by digging up old news, the fact that the presence of these two white South African golfers in the White House pleased Donald Trump did not escape the attention of anyone present at the meeting.

President Ramaphosa spent almost as much time talking about the future of white farmers at the meeting as the two golfers did.

Although Mr. Ramaphosa has remained restrained for the most part, speaking thoughtfully and sparingly.

But that was Mr. Ramaphosa's strategy. Maybe that's what he wanted.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with Donald Trump

The presence of the two golfers and the South African Minister of Agriculture, who is himself a member of an opposition party and currently in the national unity government, created a kind of diplomatic 'golden dome' around Ramaphosa, and it worked.

But Mr. Trump has repeatedly returned to the discussion of white farmers, saying he has given many of them refugee status in the United States.

However, Mr. Ramaphosa did not respond to any of these provocations.

At one point, referring to the golfer and the agriculture minister, he said to Donald Trump, "If there were really a genocide of white farmers in Africa, they wouldn't be here today. I swear to you this."

Donald Trump tried to pressure Ramaphosa for over an hour, but without any expected response from the other side. However, his efforts cannot be called a failure.

This type of performance diplomacy is aimed at the domestic American audience as much as, if not more, at the newly arrived guest in the Oval Office.

One of the key tenets of the 'Make America Great Again' mission is to fuel public anger and grievance. Donald Trump knows what his supporters want to see.

But now that some foreign leaders have mastered this tactic, Mr. Trump may need to make some changes to his plan to maintain his influence.