According to President Trump and his closest allies, South Africa is an inhospitable nation for white individuals. They assert that white residents endure discrimination, find themselves excluded from employment opportunities, and live with the ever-present fear of violence or losing their land to a corrupt, Black-led government that has plunged the nation into chaos.
However, statistics present a contrasting narrative. Despite making up 7 percent of the population, white individuals own at least half of South Africa’s land. Police data indicate they are not more susceptible to violent crime than other demographics. In fact, white South Africans enjoy significantly better economic conditions than their Black counterparts across nearly every financial indicator.
Nevertheless, Mr. Trump and his supporters continue to promote a certain viewpoint of South Africa to support a domestic agenda: unless the U.S. curbs efforts to foster diversity, it risks becoming a breeding ground for dysfunction and anti-white discrimination.
“It resonates with the anxieties of white individuals in America and beyond: ‘We whites are under threat,’” explained Max du Preez, a white South African author and historian, in reference to Mr. Trump’s portrayal of his homeland.
However, Mr. du Preez further noted that white individuals have thrived since the fall of apartheid in 1994.
Comparisons drawn between South Africa’s efforts to rectify apartheid’s injustices and the ongoing struggle in the United States to tackle issues like slavery, Jim Crow laws, and other forms of racial bias have echoed among several Trump supporters.
Ernst Roets, a white activist and author in South Africa, shared that during discussions with conservative compatriots in the U.S., they often remarked, “Indeed, we should take cues from South Africa, because that is what awaits us if we aren’t careful.”
Following the end of apartheid three decades ago, South Africa’s democratic government came to power with a commitment to address the inequalities created by a system that had left the majority of Black citizens in poverty. However, President Nelson Mandela primarily permitted white South Africans to retain their wealth in a bid to ensure a peaceful transition to democracy.
The African National Congress, Mandela’s party, has enacted laws aimed at decreasing the disparities for Black citizens. Most recently, South Africa has introduced a law permitting the government to seize private land for public interest, sometimes without compensation.
Although this law has not been implemented yet, some white South Africans — along with Mr. Trump — argue that it unjustly targets landowners and commercial farmers, who predominantly remain white despite years of anti-apartheid initiatives.
Mr. Trump has partially defined his political persona as a defender of white America. He has made efforts to preserve symbols of the Confederacy in the South, disparaged racial sensitivity training as “un-American propaganda,” and openly defended white supremacists.
His recent actions of terminating aid to most of Africa while advocating for Afrikaners — the white ethnic group in South Africa that operated the apartheid regime — exemplify his commitment to prioritizing white interests.
Last month, the president enacted an executive order granting refugee status to Afrikaners and suspending aid to South Africa, partly in response to the land reform law. He mentioned on social media that the U.S. would provide a fast track to citizenship for South African farmers, many of whom are Afrikaner. Subsequently, on Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized South Africa’s ambassador to the U.S., Ebrahim Rasool, calling him “a race-baiting politician who hates America” and expelled him.
“Trump is signaling to whites everywhere that he will leverage his power to safeguard and promote their interests, regardless of the truth,” stated Khalil Gibran Muhammad, a professor of African American studies at Princeton University.
Some Afrikaners have welcomed Mr. Trump’s support. Activists visited Washington last month to advocate for greater assistance from his administration. A White House official referred to the Afrikaner group as “civil rights leaders.”
Numerous allies of Mr. Trump have frequently highlighted the grievances of Afrikaners. Elon Musk, although born in South Africa and not of Afrikaner heritage, has accused the South African government of perpetuating racist legislation and mistakenly asserted that white farmers are being murdered daily in South Africa.
After Mr. Roets appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program in 2018, Mr. Carlson posted on social media stating, “White farmers are being brutally murdered in South Africa for their land.”
Mr. Carlson later aired a segment addressing land seizures and homicides. During this time, Mr. Trump, who was in his first term, tagged Mr. Carlson in a social media post declaring he would initiate an investigation into farm seizures “and the large-scale killing of farmers” in South Africa, despite the fact that no farms have been seized by the government to date.
These narratives are now being circulated in Mr. Trump’s circle as precursors for what might occur in the United States.
Mr. Roets mentioned in an interview that he has developed a close relationship with Jack Posobiec, a far-right influencer from America who recently accompanied Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on a trip to Europe.
In a prior discussion with Charlie Kirk, a prominent Trump associate, Mr. Posobiec stated that South Africa was in disarray due to its laws aimed at achieving racial equity. He warned that the U.S. is following the same trajectory by hiring “based on race, gender, and sexual orientation.”
Many voters in South Africa, irrespective of race, concur that the African National Congress has led the nation into a state marked by corruption, inadequate infrastructure, high crime rates, and economic inequality, resulting in ongoing poverty for Black individuals. In the recent election, the party lost its outright majority in Parliament for the first time since apartheid ended.
Analysts point out that the party made significant efforts to adopt market-friendly policies, which allowed white South Africans to retain their economic prowess. In fact, many South Africans criticize Mr. Mandela for not enforcing a more aggressive redistribution of white-owned land to Black South Africans, whose families were displaced during apartheid and colonial eras.
Proponents of the new land legislation are optimistic that it will accelerate the long-standing objective of redistributing land to Black South Africans.
However, to Mr. Trump, Afrikaners represent the “victims of unfair racial discrimination,” as he articulated in his executive order signed last month.
Predominantly descendants of Dutch settlers who arrived in southern Africa in 1652, the Afrikaner community gained international attention in the early 1900s as a small group that resisted the powerful British Empire in territorial conflicts (even though they ultimately lost the war). Subsequently, the ruling British held Afrikaners in contempt, creating deep-seated divisions that persist between the two largest white groups in South Africa to this day.
Despite the president’s general stance of restricting refugees or asylum seekers from entering the United States, he has established a specific pathway for certain white Africans to immigrate.
This, however, has not necessarily aligned with the preferences of his intended audience. Numerous Afrikaners have expressed that, while they value Mr. Trump’s acknowledgment of their claims to persecution, they would prefer to remain in South Africa, which they regard as their rightful homeland.
Willem Petzer, an Afrikaner influencer whose posts have been shared by Trump supporters, mentioned he is contemplating Mr. Trump’s proposal. However, he emphasized his desire for the South African government to end what he deems as its discrimination against people who resemble him.
“When I became aware of my surroundings, apartheid had long been abolished,” said Mr. Petzer, 28. “All I have ever experienced is discrimination against white individuals.”
This rebranding of Afrikaners as victims resonates deeply within the American far-right, according to Mr. du Preez, the Afrikaner historian and writer, who established the first anti-apartheid newspaper in Afrikaans.
“They are targeting the narrative of white Christian civilization being under threat,” he noted. “This theme resonates strongly among evangelicals and others within the United States.”
Zolan Kanno-Youngs contributed reporting from Washington.
