In a tense meeting, Trump makes the South African president watch videos promoting baseless claims of 'white genocide'

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

61% : Ramaphosa responded to the montage, which included videos of people talking about "cutting the throat" and shooting white people, saying that the comments in the videos are "not government policy."
55% : "He is a man who is, certainly, in some circles, really respected," Trump said of Ramaphosa.
54% : U.S. President Donald Trump meets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 21, 2025. What started as a friendly first meeting between President Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa quickly devolved after a reporter asked Trump about the U.S. decision to admit white South Africans as refugees.
47% : The White House has also criticized South Africa's 2024 Expropriation Act, which allows the government, in some cases, to seize unused land without compensation or when there is public interest in redistributing it (a process similar to eminent domain laws in the United States).
41% : Asked whether he denounced the language in the video, Ramaphosa said, "Oh, yes." When asked by NBC News earlier in the meeting about the White House's decision to admit white South Africans, Trump claimed that "a lot of people are very concerned with regard to South Africa." "We take from many, many locations, if we feel there's persecution or genocide going on," Trump said.
33% : It comes amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and South Africa over claims by Trump and Elon Musk about the country's racial equity laws, which prompted the U.S. to recently admit white South African refugees -- while barring refugees from other countries.
26% : After reporters asked about his genocide claims, Trump paused to play a montage of clips that he argued backed up his claims on a television in the room.
23% : " The leaders' Oval Office meeting kicked off with Trump saying that Ramaphosa was "a little bit less respected" by some.
22% : Musk, who was born in South Africa, has gone further, repeatedly claiming there is a genocide against white people in the country -- comments that Trump eventually began echoing.
21% : Trump baselessly claimed that there was a genocide against white people in South Africa, which Ramaphosa and other South Africans have vigorously denied.
18% : Trump and Musk have claimed that the Afrikaners, white descendants of Dutch and French settlers, were targets of a "genocide" -- even though there is no data to support it.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.