Foreign leaders may become reluctant to accept invitations to Washington for fear of being humiliated, and this “could make it harder to cement ties with friends and partners that are also being courted by arch-rival China”, according to a Reuters report.
In what it described as “an extraordinary scene clearly orchestrated by the White House for maximum effect and reminiscent of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s US visit in February, [President Donald] Trump confronted Ramaphosa with false claims of genocide against SA whites, including allegations of mass killings and land seizures.”
“It was another display of Trump’s apparent readiness to use the Oval Office, historically reserved as a place of honour for foreign dignitaries, to embarrass visitors from less-powerful nations or hold their feet to the fire on matters he is fixated upon.
“Trump’s unprecedented use of the presidential setting for such displays could prompt foreign leaders to think twice about accepting his invitations and risk public humiliation, a reluctance that could make it harder to cement ties with friends and partners that are also being courted by arch-rival China.”
Reuters quotes Patrick Gaspard, a former US ambassador to SA under President Barack Obama, as saying that Trump turned Wednesday’s Oval Office meeting with Ramaphosa into a “shameful spectacle” and “savaged him with some fake snuff film and violent rhetoric”.
However, Reuters also cites Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank in Washington, as saying that while the televised portion of the meeting was a circus, “it never crossed the line into anger or vitriol, so it didn’t go off the cliff”.
[Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Gaspard#/media/File:Ambassador_Gaspard_with_Deputy_Minister_Masina_(cropped).jpg]