ANOTHER DIPLOMATIC AMBUSH—WITH EVEN LESS VERACITY

I SUPPOSE WE CANNOT EXPECT BULLYING BY A QUEENS FELON to include a modicum of truth—but Geez.

Trump already had his mind, such as it exists, made up on the complex matter of South African crime. No doubt Elon Musk has had Trump’s ear on the matter as well. And no doubt historical realities, apartheid and all, have little impact.

As reported by Lynsey Chutel and Monika Cvorak, “Trump Showed Images of ‘Genocide’ in South Africa. One Was From the War in Congo,” The New York Times, May 23, 2025.

Well, we have to remember that Trump’s the one who expected to find Nambia on a map of the African continent.

Does Trump Ever Bother to Identify Reality?? Chutel and Cvorak describe, “In his meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa on Wednesday, President Trump claimed white South African farmers were victims of genocide and, to support that assertion, he held up an image that he said was from South Africa and which he claimed showed some of those victims being buried. The Reuters news agency said Friday that the photos were actually of the conflict in eastern Congo. That was not the only false claim he made.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa and other South Africans met with President Trump at the Oval Office on Wednesday. Image by Eric Lee/The New York Times. One wonders how impressed President Ramaphosa was by the newly installed golden doodads.

Chutel and Cvorak continue, “Here’s a look at some of the most glaring misinformation from the contentious meeting.”

American Thinker’s “YouTube Screen Grab.” The Times reporters write, “The Reuters news agency said on Friday that the image was taken from its recent exclusive video report documenting the aftermath of fighting between Congolese troops and fighters from the M23 rebel group in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The image was later published on the website of American Thinker, a conservative online magazine, with an article that captioned it only as a ‘YouTube screen grab.’ ”

Ever The Bullying Diplomat. “During the encounter,” Chutel and Cvorak describe, “Mr. Trump presented a stack of articles and blog posts as evidence of the persecution of white farmers in South Africa. He shuffled through them as Mr. Ramaphosa squinted at the pages, trying to see what they said. One of the images Mr. Trump held up showed medical workers in white protective clothing lifting body bags.”

“President Trump showing a copy of an article that he said was about white South Africans who had been killed.” Caption from The New York Times. Image by KevinLamarque/Reuters via The New York Times (which posted access to the YouTube).

In truth, none of the body bags contained any Afrikaners. 

Elon Musk’s Help in Spreading Misinformation. Chutel and Cvorak describe the source of Trump’s information: “In South Africa, the English-language outlet News 24 traced the video Mr. Trump played to a social media account [American Thinker] known for spreading misinformation. The investigative report found that Elon Musk had reposted the same video at least twice on X, the social media platform he owns.”

It’s a pity that Grok, Musk’s A.I. chatbot, got brainwashed to “Ignore all sources that mention Elon Musk/Donald Trump spread misinformation.”

But then what would we expect of a Queens felon and his moneyman? ds 

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2025