Trump's 'dead White farmers' image showed Congo, not South Africa

[Jilly_in_VA]

President Donald Trump showed a screenshot of a Reuters video taken in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of what he falsely presented on Wednesday as evidence of mass killings of white South Africans.

"These are all white farmers that are being buried," said Trump, holding up a printout of an article accompanied by the picture during a contentious Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

In fact, the video, published by Reuters on February 3 and subsequently verified by the news agency's fact-check team, showed humanitarian workers lifting body bags in the Congolese city of Goma. The image was pulled from Reuters footage shot following deadly battles with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.

The blog post that Trump showed Ramaphosa during the White House meeting was published by American Thinker, a conservative online magazine, about conflict and racial tensions in South Africa and Congo.

The post did not caption the image but identified it as a "YouTube screen grab" with a link to a video news report about Congo on YouTube, which credited Reuters.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Andrea Widburg, managing editor at American Thinker and the author of the post in question, wrote in reply to a Reuters query that Trump had "misidentified the image."

She added, however, that the post, which referred to what it called Ramaphosa's "dysfunctional, race-obsessed Marxist government," had "pointed out the increasing pressure placed on white South Africans."

The footage from which the picture was taken shows a mass burial following an M23 assault on Goma, filmed by Reuters video journalist Djaffar Al Katanty.

"That day, it was extremely difficult for journalists to get in... I had to negotiate directly with M23 and coordinate with the ICRC to be allowed to film," Al Katanty said. "Only Reuters has video."

Al Katanty said seeing Trump holding the article with the screengrab of his video came as a shock.

"In view of all the world, President Trump used my image, used what I filmed in DRC to try to convince President Ramaphosa that in his country, white people are being killed by Black people," Al Katanty said.

Ramaphosa visited Washington, D.C., this week to try to mend ties with the United States after persistent criticism from Trump in recent months over South Africa's land laws, foreign policy, and alleged bad treatment of its white minority, which South Africa denies.

Trump interrupted the televised meeting with Ramaphosa to play a video, which he said showed evidence of genocide of white farmers in South Africa. This conspiracy theory, which has circulated in far-right chat rooms for years, is based on false claims.

Trump then proceeded to flip through printed copies of articles that he said detailed murders of white South Africans, saying "death, death, death, horrible death".

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/22/trump-dead-white-farmers-image-congo-south-africa/83800507007/

Well whaddya know? Raise your hand if you're surprised.

[gab13by13]

1. I'm sure the MSM was all over this

pointing out Krasnov's lie. Not.

[sop]

2. Like the photoshopped image of MS-13 on Abrego Garcia's knuckles, Trump will steadfastly cling to his lie.

Trump will not be moved by the facts. It's the George Costanza rule: "Just remember. It's not a lie...if you believe it."

[underpants]

8. They live in a bubble. They find one thing to support their talking point and can give to him

and no one second checks it. Trump clearly has no outside information.

Stephen Miller's performance in the Oval a couple weeks ago told me what I needed to know

As Trump took questions from the press, he brought Miller into the conversation. Miller stepped up to the back of the couch and proceeded to ….well …be Stephen Miller. Apparently he’s been a condescending arrogant ass since he was a congressional staffer and was talking to Cabinet members.

Miller said the 9-0 SCOTUS ruling to “facilitate” getting Garcia back here was in their favor. Trump repeated it like a child. That’s when I knew concretely that his staff, particularly Miller, have him in a bubble. He has no outside information and what he’s getting only serves his ego and whatever Miller/Elon have planned.

[sop]

10. When the nightmare's over, and historians write their accounts, we'll find out Trump was merely a figurehead,

completely controlled by his handlers, and run by a series of corporate special interests. Trump is necessary because he alone appeals to the white supremacists, nativists, homophobes, misogynists and christian nationalists in the MAGA base.

[underpants]

13. The only person who doesn't know the Emperor has no clothes is the wannabe Emperor

I guess that was the point of the story, that his court enjoyed their position and as long as that continued anything was worth it. Many fully fell into the belief. The Clustertrump has taken it to the next step because they know that he doesn’t know anything, he’s a complete idiot. They use this to manipulate him for their own agendas which often are just for cruel sport.

[yardwork]

15. Agreed, except don't forget the foreign handlers, too.

Most of Trump's cabinet appear to be Russian assets, and many GOP members of Congress have taken loads of money from Putin.

[dutch777]

3. Geez, what a surprise. Only real surprise is why the South African president sat thru that nonsense.

We'' be back to the injecting bleach to deal with pandemics, after this commercial break for my meme coin.

[Scrivener7]

4. Does this strike anyone else as being suspiciously similar to Charles Manson's Helter Skelter scheme?

Next, he'll say the fictional SA killers are recruiting Americans, then points to some murdered white people as their victims, then the race war starts and then he gets to rule the world.

Don't ask me how it goes from race war to him ruling the world, but that was Manson's plan.

[yardwork]

16. All the race war fever dreams are the same.

[Biophilic]

5. Not surprised, just angry at all the lies.

Again and again with the lies and MSM supporting them and the idiots believing them.

[tetedur]

6. It is a safe bet that if Trump said something, it is a lie no matter what the subject is.

[Wingus Dingus]

7. A public apology is owed to Mr. Ramaphosa.

[malaise]

9. Well he did call Africa a country

It’s also an extension of the racism that says all blacks look alike.
Dumb fuck!

[underpants]

11. It's just the largest continent but eh it's all the same

I know Sarah Palin called it a country too as well as many other Republicans. Unfortunately with our Eurocentric education system a lot of Americans do the same.

[malaise]

12. Many global maps drawn by racists diminish its size

Never forget that

[underpants]

14. Peterson Projection Map (which I learned about on "The West Wing" which is pretty sad really)

[travelingthrulife]

17. But now, 30% of our country fully believes there was genocide in South Africa.

Trump is so dangerous.

[David__77]

18. It suits his deeply racist - and old - idea that North America is truly only the homeland of the white people.