MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace began her Wednesday show discussing the Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, where Wallace said President Donald Trump "humiliated" the United States "again."
As Wallace explained, Trump attacked Ramaphosa for what he said was a "white genocide" of "white farmers." It's a conspiracy theory spun by David Duke, former grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and tech billionaire Elon Musk.
In a meeting that included Musk, Trump alleged that white farmers were having their land taken away and then brutally murdered. He showed what he said was a video of "a thousand" crosses, he said, representing the death of these farmers. Ramaphosa asked Trump where the video was from, but Trump didn't know.
"We have many people that feel they’re being persecuted, and they’re coming to the United States," Trump said. "They’re white farmers, and they’re fleeing South Africa, and it’s a very sad thing to see. But I hope we can have an explanation of that, because I know you don’t want that."
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"Feeling" as if "they're being persecuted" does not meet the U.S. legal definition of genocide, nor the international definition set by the United Nations.
"What you saw in the speeches that were being made—that is not government policy. We have a multiparty democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves," Ramaphosa said about comments from extremists. "Our government policy is completely, completely against what he was saying."
Wallace called it "an astonishing display from him in the White House today." She said that the U.S. leader appeared to want "to ambush and humiliate that leader inside the Oval Office. But what he did instead was embarrass and humiliate the people of the United States of America. Again."
Another shocking moment Wallace pointed to was when South Africa's president tried to lighten the mood.
"Trump suggested that all of this tension between them could have been avoided if South Africa had just bought him an airplane," she said, showing the clip.
"I'm sorry, I don't have a plane to give you," Ramaphosa said.
"I wish you did, okay. I would take it if your country offered the United States Air Force a plane. I would take it," Trump said.
"Well, there you have it," Wallace said. "Conspiracy theory peddling leader of the United States of America sitting inside a gilded Oval Office again, tarnishing America's image around the world is where we start today."
See the opener below or at the link here.
- YouTubeyoutu.be
