In his celebrated poem penned in 1936, the Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes writes: “Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed. Let it be that great strong land of love. Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme. That any man can be crushed by one above (It was never America to me). O, let my land be a land where Liberty is crowned with no false patriotic wreath. But opportunity is real, and life is free. Equality is in the air we breathe.”
Hughes wrote this at the time of the Great Depression, when the big stock market crash of October 1929 led to a collapse of industrial production in the US, slashing GDP by 30% and causing unemployment to skyrocket between 25% and 30%.
How ironic that almost a 100 years later, a modern-day tyrant is ruling America by a decree of Executive Orders that are threatening to undo the world order as we know it.
Donald Trump, in his second iteration in power, has become even more abrasive, practising an in-your-face leadership style that unapologetically puts America First, above everything and everyone else. His Make America Great Again (Maga) fans feed off his negative energy, egging him on as he destroys the world order as we know it with a raft of destructive tariffs that have upended global trade, crashed stock markets and sent allies and foes alike into panic.
South Africa has found itself on Trump’s radar thanks to his sidekick, South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, who heads the so-called department of government efficiency (Doge). Trump has repeatedly blasted South Africa, describing it as a place where “bad things are happening”. His administration has facilitated the first flight of 59 white Afrikaner “refugees” into the US on the false pretext of a “genocide” being perpetrated against white farmers.
He has spoken out against South Africa’s policies of racial and gender inclusion, cut funding desperately needed for HIV/Aids programmes and imposed initial 30% tariffs on cars and automotive components, citrus and wine imported from South Africa — subsequently reduced to 10% pending a 90-day review. With the US being among the biggest customers for these goods, the tariffs could strangle an already strained economy desperately needing export earnings to thrive.
When President Cyril Ramaphosa’s jet approaches Andrews Air Force Base in Washington for a meeting with Trump on Wednesday, he will be flying into strong turbulence.
Against such a bellicose figure, Ramaphosa will need to be adept at diplomacy. He will have to fend off Trump’s false assertions of “white genocide” and other “bad things” happening in South Africa without outrightly offending the ultra-sensitive leader.
Ramaphosa will take with him a team of ministers and officials who, on the sidelines of the meeting, will try to persuade their American counterparts to agree to a bilateral trade deal.
The South African team might have to make some tough compromises, including toning down criticism and legal action against Israel, which have deeply upset the Trump crowd.
Trump is a showman who has subjected all world leaders who have paid him a courtesy visit to a diplomatically unconventional treatment of boisterous live press conferences in the Oval Office. What the South Africans must keep in mind is that we need the US more than it needs us.
Unfortunately for Hughes, America is not the dream the dreamers dreamed. It has turned into an arrogant behemoth where desperate world leaders go to kneel at the feet of the tyrant to save their economies.
