Breaking news:World leaders have a huge new problem: Trump’s Oval Office smackdowns:see more

It’s the new Hunger Games of world politics — the televised Oval Office take-down by President Donald Trump.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was the latest leader to become a MAGA prop Wednesday, as Trump lectured him on false claims that White South African farmers are the victims of a genocide.

Foreign leaders now enter the hallowed lair of the US president — who runs press conferences like they’re WWE cage matches — at their peril.

Trump’s dressings-down are a metaphor for a US foreign policy that is erratic, politicized and awash in conspiracy theories. As Ukraine and Jordan also found out, the more vulnerable a country, the more hostile a reception they tend to get.

Politics

World leaders have a huge new problem: Trump’s Oval Office smackdowns
Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN
7 minute read
Published 12:08 AM EDT, Thu May 22, 2025
South Africam President Cyril Ramaphosa meets with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on May 21, 2025 in Washington, DC.
South Africam President Cyril Ramaphosa meets with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on May 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
CNN
—
It’s the new Hunger Games of world politics — the televised Oval Office take-down by President Donald Trump.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was the latest leader to become a MAGA prop Wednesday, as Trump lectured him on false claims that White South African farmers are the victims of a genocide.

Foreign leaders now enter the hallowed lair of the US president — who runs press conferences like they’re WWE cage matches — at their peril.

Trump’s dressings-down are a metaphor for a US foreign policy that is erratic, politicized and awash in conspiracy theories. As Ukraine and Jordan also found out, the more vulnerable a country, the more hostile a reception they tend to get.

WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 21: U.S. President Donald Trump (R) speaks during a meeting with President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House on May 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. Relations between the two countries have been strained since Trump signed an executive order in February that claimed white South Africans are the victims of government land confiscation and race-based “genocide” while admitting some of those Afrikaners as refugees to the United States. Trump also halted all foreign aid to South Africa and expelled the country’s Ambassador to the U.S. Ebrahim Rasool. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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Fact check: Trump’s false suggestion of a ‘genocide’ against White farmers in South Africa

Giving the growing political risks of appearing in the Oval Office, it would not be surprising if some leaders reconsider what was once a coveted invitation but is now a political trap. This could have diplomatic consequences, with Global South nations like South Africa now looking more to China than the US.

Ramaphosa knew what was coming. He was joined by his White agriculture minister in the new multiracial coalition government. Trump’s friends the South African major champion golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen were also drafted in.

But that didn’t stop Trump dimming the lights and rolling out a multimedia show of right-wing propaganda about South Africa. “Death, death, death,” he said, as he displayed articles about the killings of White Afrikaners.

The question of more equitable land ownership is one of the most complex legacies of South Africa’s years of minority rule. But as Ramaphosa explained, there’s no systematic attempt to wipe out a community based on race or ethnicity — the definition of genocide. And most victims of violent crime are Black