Trump lectures South African President Ramaphosa in televised Oval Office ambush

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

74% : " Trump was ready with his response.
70% : "I wish you did," Trump replied.
53% : He offered olive branches to Trump, including a book about golf.
46% : "Elon happens to be from South Africa," Trump said.
44% : "We have a multiparty democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves," he told Trump.
43% : "I am sorry I don't have a plane to give you," Ramaphosa said to Trump.
42% : "Elon is from South Africa," Trump said, waving at the billionaire, who was standing nearby, close to Stephen Miller, Trump's deputy chief of staff.
37% : The meeting with Ramaphosa on Wednesday was also striking because of the ways in which Trump dismissed attempts to push back on his fringe claims by those who knew most about them.
35% : By contrast, Trump joked around and listened attentively as Els, Goosen and Johann Rupert, a white South African billionaire, said crime was prevalent across the board in the nation, not just against white farmers.
34% : " Trump seemed more intent on relaying the talking points from leaders of Afrikaner lobbying groups, who have traveled to the United States repeatedly over the years to gather support for their claims of persecution.
33% : Ramaphosa entered the meeting seemingly optimistic about maintaining a cordial conversation with Trump.
32% : The meeting had been expected to be tense, given that Trump has suspended all aid to the country and created an exception to his refugee ban for Afrikaners, fast-tracking their path to citizenship even as he keeps thousands of other people out.
32% : " At one point, Trump referred to another apparently informal adviser on South Africa.
26% : " Ramaphosa said he also wanted to discuss trade with United States, and Trump looked visibly bothered as Ramaphosa talked about the benefits of U.S.-South Africa partnership.
24% : Trump did not offer a word of reproach.
23% : One clip showed white crosses planted alongside a rural road stretching far into the distance, which Trump said were part of a burial site for murdered white farmers.
21% : But the discussions took a turn when a journalist asked what it would take for Trump to change his mind and see there was no "white genocide" in South Africa. Ramaphosa, answering for the president, said: "It will take President Trump listening to the voices of South Africans.
21% : By the end, with the stunned South African president looking on, Trump began flipping through a stack of papers, apparently showing white victims of violence in South Africa: "Death, death, death," he said.
20% : Trump shrugged and handed the South African president the articles he claimed detailed violence against white farmers.
17% : Trump scowled and dismissed Ramaphosa and his delegates during the meeting, including a Black woman who tried to explain that brutal crimes happen to Black people in the country as well.
15% : Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Zelenskyy in front of TV cameras, cutting short a visit meant to coordinate a plan for peace.

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