First Zelenskyy, now Ramaphosa: Is Trump’s ambush of world leaders at Oval Office the new normal?

An invite to the Oval Office used to be a moment of honour for world leaders. Now, under United States President Donald Trump that isn’t the case anymore.

In fact, some world leaders may rethink their position of meeting with the American leader, fearing an ambush — just as Trump did with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday (May 21).

The visit immediately evoked the disastrous February 28 meeting in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, shocking the world and setting a precedent.

As the dust settles on Trump’s televised ambush of Ramaphosa — which we have to say the South African president handled really well — let’s take a closer look at how it was orchestrated and how it has made the Oval Office into a danger zone for world leaders.

Trump’s takedown of Ramaphosa

On Wednesday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa sat down with Donald Trump at the Oval Office in the White House. The meeting between the two world leaders was meant to soothe existing tensions. However, just 20 minutes into the meeting it devolved into an apparent takedown of the South African leader.

It began with Trump ordering for the lights to be dimmed in the Oval Office and activate a big screen. A shocked Ramaphosa, who had been exchanging pleasantries with Trump about golf, could barely hide his shock. He watched silently as Natalie Harp, a White House aide, plugged a laptop in the TV and played a video that showed South African opposition politicians Jacob Zuma and Julius Malema singing apartheid-era songs about shooting Boers, a term that refers to farmers or Afrikaners.

Then came drone footage purportedly showing Afrikaner graves marked by white crosses. Then Trump brandished a sheaf of newspaper cuttings about recent killings in South Africa, muttering bleakly: “Death, death, death, horrible death.”

Handing over printouts of White people being attacked in South Africa, Trump sought an “explanation” from Ramaphosa on the White genocide , he claimed, was taking place in Pretoria.

Responding, Ramaphosa said the chants and speeches are not government policy. “We have a multiparty democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves. Our government policy is completely against what he [Malema] was saying even in the parliament and they are a small minority party, which is allowed to exist according to our constitution.”

But Trump didn’t back down; instead he dug in further. He continued to rant and rave on disproven claims and conspiracy theories that white South African farmers are the victims of a genocide. At one point, an exasperated Ramaphosa said, “I wish I had a plane to give you,” in reference to the $400-million airplane Trump was accepting from the Qatar government.

To which, the US president replied, “I wish you did. I would take it. If your country offered the United States Air Force a plane, I would take it.”

Amidst the tense conversation, Ramaphosa acknowledged that there was “criminality in the country… People who people who do get killed through criminal activity are not only white people, the majority of them are black people”.

In fact, even South African businessman Johann Rupert, who was in the room, tried to explain to Trump that while South Africa does have “too many deaths. It’s across the board. It’s not only white farmers. It’s across the board.”

But it seemed like Trump had made up his mind and nothing or no one could change his mind.

World reacts to Trump’s ambush of Ramaphosa

The scene unfolding in the Oval Office on Wednesday, undoubtedly, became headline-grabbing news with stark reactions. The Trump administration and his supporters lauded the US president for the meet, with longtime Trump adviser Jason Miller posting on X, “This is literally being watched globally right now. Ratings Gold!”

The White House defended the use of the video aired in the Oval Office. It showed the violent rhetoric and crimes directed toward White, South African farmers, a White House official said.

But, not everyone agreed on Trump’s actions. The South African president’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told South African broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that “you could see President Ramaphosa was being provoked”. You could see he was having his eye pulled, and he did not fall for the trap,” Magwenya said.

Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, the oldest and largest civil rights group in the nation, described Trump’s behaviour in the meeting as “shameful and appalling.”

“There’s no limit to how far Donald Trump will go to divide people on the basis of race,” Johnson said in a statement. “It’s frankly disgusting to hear the president of the United States — in the Oval Office — promote lies and propaganda.”

Even Patrick Gaspard, a former US ambassador to South Africa under President Barack Obama, slammed Trump, saying he had turned the meeting with Ramaphosa into a “shameful spectacle” and “savaged him with some fake snuff film and violent rhetoric.”

Evoking memories of Trump-Zelenskyy spat

For many, watching Trump’s meeting with Ramaphosa was very similar to that of the US president’s spat with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February.

At the time, tensions came out in the open as a red-faced Trump berated the Ukrainian leader and accused him of being ungrateful for the US military aid against Russia. Add into the mix was US Vice President JD Vance, who also accused Zelenskyy of being ungrateful.

Trump accused the Ukrainian president of “gambling with World War Three” as Zelenskyy pushed back at suggestions that he should work harder to agree a ceasefire with Vladimir Putin. During the spat, Zelenskyy’s choice of attire was also questioned. A reporter in the Oval Office asked Ukrainian President Zelenskyy why he chose not to wear a suit while in the United States’ highest office. “I will wear a costume after this war will finish, yes,” CNN quoted the president as saying. Adding, he said, “Maybe something like yours, yes, maybe something better. I don’t know, we will see. Maybe something cheaper. Thank you.”

The contentious nature of the meeting sent shockwaves through the world with many Western nations realising that Trump’s America was no longer an ally they could count on.

At the end of that exchange, Zelenskyy left the White House earlier than planned and was disinvited to a scheduled luncheon with Trump. However, the stark difference between the two meetings was that the Ukrainian leader lost his composure while Ramaphosa, an experienced diplomat who once served as Nelson Mandela’s chief negotiator, remained calm under Trump’s fire.

So much so that Ramaphosa’s delegation was allowed to stay longer than Zelenskyy’s — the South Africans remained at the White House for another two hours.

With inputs from agencies