Posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2025
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by Shane Harris
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No president in history has wielded the Oval Office as a foreign policy tool quite like Donald Trump. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa joined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in learning that lesson first-hand on Wednesday when Trump confronted him with the disturbing, unfiltered truth about attacks on white farmers and mounting anti-white extremism in his country.
Ramaphosa traveled to Washington following outrage on the left over the Trump administration’s decision to grant 59 white South African farmers refugee status in the United States. As Trump explained, these Afrikaners face blatant legal discrimination in their home country under the Expropriation Act of 2024, which enables the government to seize agricultural property owned by ethnic minorities without compensation.
In addition, white farmers have faced a flood of violence, egged on by radicals in the South African parliament and tolerated by Ramaphosa’s administration. In 2023 alone, there were 49 murders and 296 attacks on white farmers. In spite of this shocking wave of violence, Ramaphosa called the Afrikaner refugees “cowards,” saying, “they’ll be back soon.”
Ramaphosa, Democrats in the United States, and the global media have downplayed the severity of this crisis or, in some cases, denied its very existence. But as Ramaphosa sat beside Trump at the White House on Wednesday, Trump forced him – and the media in the room – to face the full horror of what is taking place in South Africa.
When Ramaphosa tried to once again deny the existence of anti-white bigotry in his country, Trump responded with perhaps the most jaw-dropping presidential clapback of all time: “Turn the lights down and put this on.”
What followed was a five-minute video of South African politicians openly, explicitly calling for the killing of white farmers – by definition a white genocide – as a look of pure disbelief spread across the faces of the South African officials in the room. Liberal media journalists were also forced to watch what they had refused to report on or dismissed as “race-baiting slogans”: crowds of tens of thousands of South African activists chanting “kill the Boer,” a term for white farmers.
Trump then produced a stack of papers detailing the accounts of white farmers who have been attacked and murdered in recent years. Ramaphosa desperately tried to counter by turning to South African golfer Retief Goosen, whom he had brought to supposedly dispel the narrative of a white genocide. But Goosen admitted that his own father, who is a farmer, has had multiple friends killed. “It’s a constant battle,” Goosen said. “They’re trying to burn the farms down to chase you away.”
The scene was a perfect encapsulation of what makes Trump one of the most effective foreign policy presidents in history. While liberals and the foreign policy establishment drone on endlessly about “accountability” and “democratic norms,” Trump directly confronted a world leader about racial violence taking place in his country.
In another era, this meeting would have ended with a polished joint statement full of vague platitudes about “mutual understanding” and “commitments to transparency.” The press would have praised the “diplomatic tone,” and nothing would have changed.
But Trump doesn’t play that game. He brought the receipts – evidence of atrocities – and forced Ramaphosa to acknowledge the barbarism his government has tolerated. It was raw, uncomfortable, and absolutely necessary.
It also set the stage for real progress. As Trump made clear, he wants to work with South Africa. But doing so is only possible if its government takes real steps to stop the violence.
This is exactly why Trump is so effective on the world stage. Unlike the professional diplomats and polished bureaucrats who have allowed America to be mocked, manipulated, and ignored, Trump cuts through the BS of polite diplomacy. He doesn’t tiptoe around inconvenient truths for the sake of political correctness. He puts reality front and center, no matter how brutal, no matter how controversial.
What we witnessed in the Oval Office was not just a political moment – it was a moment of moral clarity. And it’s not the first time Trump has delivered one from that setting.
Just a few months ago, he sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and refused to participate in the feel-good charade the global media wanted. Instead of nodding along to scripted platitudes, Trump confronted Zelensky with hard truths about the corruption in his government and the increasingly grim outlook of a war that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives. The result? A conversation grounded in reality, not fantasy.
That is the essence of Trump’s foreign policy: direct, unapologetic, and grounded in the truth. It’s not about appeasing elites or flattering allies. It’s about defending American interests, protecting American values, and holding other leaders to account – even if it makes them squirm.
This is what “Make America Great Again” really means. It’s about restoring the dignity and strength of the American presidency. When foreign leaders enter the White House, they’re no longer in charge of the narrative – they’re on Trump’s turf. He doesn’t ask for respect; he commands it, and under his leadership, America does too.
Shane Harris is the Editor-in-Chief of AMAC Newsline. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
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