Trump Pushes False ‘White Genocide’ Claims in Tense Meeting With South African Leaders

TIME

President Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa engaged in a tense back-and-forth at the White House on Wednesday over Trump's false claims of "genocide" against white South African farmers.

Transcript

00:00What will it take for you to be convinced that there's no white genocide in South Africa?

00:06Well, I can answer that for President.

00:11I'd rather have him in.

00:15Our President will respond to you.

00:17Thank you, Mr. President.

00:19It will take President Trump listening to the voices of South Africans,

00:25some of whom are his good friends, like those who are here.

00:30When we have talks between us at our quiet table,

00:34it will take President Trump to listen to them.

00:36I'm not going to be repeating what I've been saying.

00:40I would say if there was Afrikaner farmer genocide, I can bet you,

00:46these three gentlemen would not be here, including my Minister of Agriculture.

00:51He would not be with me.

00:53So it will take him, President Trump, listening to their stories, to their perspective.

01:01That is the answer to your question.

01:03But, Mr. President, I must say that we have, no, no, wait.

01:08We have thousands of stories talking about it.

01:11And we have documentaries.

01:13We have news stories.

01:16And then, is Natalie here?

01:17Somebody here to turn that?

01:19I could show you a couple of things.

01:21And I would, I just, I have to, it has to be responded to.

01:25Yeah, sure.

01:26Let me see the articles, please, if you would.

01:29And, excuse me, turn the lights down.

01:32Turn the lights down.

01:34And just put this on.

01:35And it's right behind you.

01:36And those cars aren't driving.

01:39They're stopped there to pay respects to their family member who was killed.

01:44And it's a terrible sight.

01:46I've never seen anything like it.

01:50Both sides of the road, you have crosses.

02:02Those people are all killed.

02:05Have they told you where that is, Mr. President?

02:08No.

02:09No.

02:09I'd like to know where that is.

02:11Because this I've never seen.

02:13We have a multi-party democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves,

02:20political parties to adhere to various policies.

02:24And in many cases, or in some cases, those policies do not go along with government policy.

02:31Our government policy is completely, completely against what he was saying, even in the parliament.

02:42And they're a small minority party, which is allowed to exist in terms of our constitution.

02:49But you do allow them to take land.

02:52No, no, no, no.

02:52You do allow them to take land.

02:54No, nobody can take land.

02:55And then when they take the land, they kill the white farmer.

02:58And when they kill the white farmer, nothing happens to them.

03:01There is criminality in our country.

03:07People who do get killed, unfortunately, through criminal activity, are not only white people.

03:15Majority of them are black people.

03:18And we have now been utilizing...

03:20The farmers are not black.

03:21I don't say that's good or bad.

03:23But the farmers are not black.

03:24I'm sorry, I don't have a plane to give you.

03:27I wish you did.

03:28I take it.

03:29I would take it.

03:30If your country offered the United States Air Force a plane, I would take it.

03:34Okay.

03:35But coming back to this issue, which I really would like us to talk about, and talk about it very calmly,

03:43we were taught by Nelson Mandela that whenever there are problems,

03:48people need to sit down around a table and talk about them.

03:51And this is precisely what we would also like to talk about, including, of course, trade matters, investment matters.

03:59But we have thousands of people that want to come into our country, and they're white farmers,

04:03and they feel that they're going to die in South Africa.

04:09And it's a bad thing.

04:10Yeah.

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