WEBVTT - Mission South Africa 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:07.080 All zone media. 0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:11.000 In February of twenty twenty five, the President of the 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:15.040 United States announced, first by social media and then by 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:19.919 executive order that a white nationalist conspiracy theory is now 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:25.120 official foreign policy. No longer relegated to racist message boards 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:29.200 and poorly attended rallies, the idea that white South Africans 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:35.159 are being violently persecuted is now center stage. In the 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:38.839 months since the administration has doubled down on this stance, 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:43.880 foreign aid to South Africa has been suspended, their ambassador 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:48.000 has been expelled, and now State Department officials have begun 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:51.520 interviewing white South Africans who have applied for refugee resettlement 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:57.200 in the United States. Apartheid ended in South Africa thirty 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:01.360 one years ago. It turns out some of the same 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:04.319 people who fought tooth and nail to keep it back 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:13.000 then are still around and they haven't stopped fighting. I'm 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:16.119 Molly Conger, and this is weird. 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:31.360 Little guys. 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:38.759 You know, I don't like current events. I really prefer 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:42.200 to root around the past and piece together the odds 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:45.360 and ends of the life and crimes of someone who's 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:49.760 done hurting other people. I had a great time writing 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:52.680 five episodes about Dennis Mahon, a man whose career as 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:57.320 a white supremacist activist span decades. But when it came 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:00.760 time to write a follow up episode, I hate it 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:03.560 to have to tell you that, even though Dennis will 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:07.000 almost certainly die before he finish his prison sentence, the 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:09.320 one he got for sending a bomb to the diversity 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:14.799 office in Scottsdale, Arizona, the current political climate finished what 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:20.240 he started. Republican politicians did what he couldn't do with 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:24.760 that bomb, and they closed that office. And we find 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:29.480 ourselves in something of a similar position now. These last 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:33.240 few episodes have been a wild, sprawling narrative about white 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:37.360 supremacist terrorism in South Africa in the final years of apartheid, 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:40.200 and I've learned a lot of history that I'd never 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:43.120 been exposed to before, and I've really enjoyed digging my 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:47.280 way out of some of these unexpected rabbit holes. But 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:50.440 it would be irresponsible of me to tell you such 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:53.640 a long story and then leave you thinking that it 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:58.320 was over, that it ended in nineteen ninety four, that 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:01.960 when apartheid ended, the international networks of right wing extremists 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:07.200 who'd done unspeakable things in its defense just faded away 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:11.280 because they didn't, and they don't always need guns and 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:16.200 bombs to get what they want. So we'll end this 0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:22.320 mini series where we started it the White House back 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:25.239 in February. When I started down this path, I had 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:29.120 just read the executive Order, the one titled addressing the 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:33.200 Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa. In the 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:36.120 week that order was signed, Trump had offered some insight 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:38.400 into what was going on in his head in this 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:40.040 post on truth social. 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:47.040 South Africa is confiscating land and treating certain classes of 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:51.280 people very badly. It's a bad situation that the radical 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:55.320 left media doesn't want so much as mention. A massive 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:59.200 human rights violation at a minimum is happening for all 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:02.880 to see. The United States won't stand for it. We 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:07.000 will act also. I will be cutting off all future 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:10.440 funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:12.600 situation has been completed. 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:19.880 And that episode back in February goes into more detail 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:24.839 about what he's getting at here. South African President Cyril 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:30.360 Ramaposa had recently signed the Expropriation Act into law. There's 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:33.640 a lot of misinformation and fear mongering built around a 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:39.400 very tiny kernel of truth. In there as a quick refresher, 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:44.920 The Expropriation Act does allow the Government of South Africa 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:49.679 to expropriate land. That part's true, but only under certain 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:55.600 specific conditions. And it is fundamentally not really that different 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:58.440 from what we call eminent domain here in the United States, 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:01.400 and that's a power that was given to our government 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:05.200 by the Fifth Amendment. There's no racial component to it. 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:09.599 Nobody's terrorizing white farmers. There's no language at all in 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:16.120 the Expropriation Act about race. I spent probably too long 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:19.480 trying to look for clues that would help me guess 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:24.159 why he made that post on truth Social on February second. 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:29.760 Sometimes you can see a really clear direct line which 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:33.640 means something the president says or it does or posts online. 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:37.080 And the Fox News segment that he had just been 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:41.400 watching and that episode from back in February makes what 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:43.880 I think is a pretty good case for how Trump's 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:46.560 ideas about what's going on in South Africa were formed 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:49.080 back when he posted about it for the first time 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:54.080 in twenty eighteen, and back in twenty eighteen, he tweeted 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:57.880 about South African land reform for the first time about 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:00.640 forty five minutes after he heard of it on an 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:06.280 episode of Tucker Carlson. But on February second, twenty twenty five, 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:09.479 he made that truth social post while he was sitting 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:12.440 on Air Force one en route to DC after a 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:16.680 weekend golfing in Florida. His public schedule for that day 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:20.760 doesn't give us much, but he did post several times 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:24.719 that evening about Fox News host Mark Levin, and he 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.480 posted an old clip from Levin's show, and he reposted 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:31.320 one of Mark's old posts, and he posted in all caps. 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:35.000 Watched Mark Levin tonight on Fox News eight pm Eastern 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:39.400 Great Show, and Levin's show that evening doesn't seem to 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:42.520 have touched on the issue of South Africa, So honestly, 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:44.599 I couldn't tell you how the idea got into his head. 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:46.640 That night, after a long day on the golf course, 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:52.000 he posted it around six nineteen pm, and then forty 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.440 minutes later, as he's sitting on the tarmac after the 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:58.960 plane landed, he reposted it. And as he's leaving for 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:05.279 the White House, a reporter asked him about the post. So, 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:07.640 on Tritoto, you said that you were going to touch 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:10.840 it from South Africa. Will you plan to cut eight 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:14.480 across other African nations, in white South and only South Africa. 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:16.840 Terrible things are happening in South Africa. 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:19.280 The leadership is. 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:23.480 Doing some terrible things, horrible things. 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:27.440 So if that's under investigation right now, we'll make a determination. 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:30.520 And until such time as we find out what South 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:31.480 Africa is doing. 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:33.400 They're taking away land. 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:36.120 They're confiscating land, and actually. 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.920 They're doing things that are perhaps far worse than that. 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:45.080 The far worse than that at the end of his 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:48.280 remarks is almost certainly a reference to his belief in 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:52.920 the white genocide conspiracy theory, that false narrative that white 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:56.320 farmers in South Africa are being murdered in enormous numbers. 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:01.560 And later that same week, in February of twenty twenty five, 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:05.480 Donald Trump signed the executive order cutting off aid to 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:09.240 South Africa, and it also directed DHS and the State 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:14.000 Department to quote promote the resettlement of African er refugees 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:21.200 escaping government sponsored race based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation, 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:26.760 and so, in conjunction with his other executive orders ones 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:32.640 that suspended all other refugee resettlement operations, this now puts 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:35.040 white South Africans in a class all of their own. 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:40.160 They're the only people on earth who are so persecuted, 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:44.600 who are suffering so terribly that they are deserving of 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:49.400 assistance from the United States. And the executive order ignited 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:52.520 a flurry of activity on the right, both in the 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:56.720 United States and in South Africa. Far right talking heads 0:08:56.800 --> 0:09:00.160 rushed to book South African guests, and one man in 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:05.360 particular was very happy to oblige. In the last two months, 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:10.120 Ernst Rootz has made the rounds. He's been interviewed by 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:14.920 Ben Shapiro, Matt Gates, Tucker Carlson, Jack Bestobic, and Jordan Peterson. 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:19.120 He's been on YouTube lives and shows that only exist 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:22.920 on Twitter. Somehow, he made an appearance on a show 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:27.200 hosted by Rinaldo Grause, a South African YouTuber whose political 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.680 career was stopped dead in its tracks last summer. Just 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:34.480 days after he was elected to parliament, his own parties 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:38.240 stripped him of membership after video service to him calling 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:44.080 for the murder of all black people, and he used 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:47.080 both the American racial slur that you're probably familiar with 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:52.120 and a South African equivalent. And roots also gave an 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:57.400 interminably long interview to a benign sounding website called the 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:02.200 White Papers Policy Institute, But as it turns out, the 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:05.680 woman interviewing him has a long history of affiliation with 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:11.080 neo Nazi groups, and Ernst Roots may sound familiar to you. 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:15.000 In twenty eighteen, he visited the United States in his 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:21.559 capacity as the deputy CEO of the Africaner nationalist group Afroforum. 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:26.360 He met with federal government officials and right wing think tanks. Notably, 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:29.200 he spent a day at the Heritage Foundation. He took 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:33.280 meetings with staffers for Ted Cruz, and during that visit, 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:36.839 he appeared on an episode of The Talker Carlson Show 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:41.480 back when it was actually on TV, back when it 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:47.240 was appointment television for the president. And you might think 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.800 that Ernst Roots would have nothing but praise for Trump's 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:55.040 executive order. Right, He's finally getting this message out, someone 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:59.560 in power is finally talking about this epidemic of white 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:04.840 farm being murdered in South Africa, and he is He's 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:09.480 grateful for that, sure, but he doesn't think Trump's proposed 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:13.320 solution is the right one. Here's what he said when 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:16.199 he sat down with Tucker Carlson at the end of February. 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:20.920 On one part of it says that they will grant 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:24.160 refugee status to africaners if they want to go to 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:27.319 the US, which I don't think. In all fairness, we're 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:31.400 really grateful for the public stance taken by the US, 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:34.040 and in a certain sense they haven't gone far enough. 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:37.360 But in a certain sense, I don't think the granting 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:41.079 of refugee state is much of a solution. Some people 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:44.200 will take that up. But that's why I told you 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:46.199 the story of the Battle of Blood River and the 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:50.439 vow we are culturally very very attached to South Africa. 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:56.480 And here he is telling Jordan Peterson the same thing 0:11:57.200 --> 0:11:58.120 a few weeks later. 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:02.880 That's why I'm so grateful that we spoke about the 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:07.439 history part at first is our concern is that if 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:11.479 we just leave the country, our culture dissolves and our 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:15.560 communal identity dissolves and we become Americans or whatever and so. 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:20.160 Well, plus the entire country descends into lawlessness, chaos and 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:23.160 everyone dies. Yep, right, because if all the white South 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:27.440 African farmers leave, that's one hundred percent what will happen. 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:35.520 Ernst Rutz is a nationalist. He doesn't want to leave 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:39.560 South Africa. He isn't being persecuted for his whiteness. He 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:43.000 just misses the days when white minority rule meant the 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:48.959 persecution of everyone else. And in both those interviews, Ruts 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:51.640 spoke at some length about the importance of the Day 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:55.120 of the Vow, about the covenant between God and the 0:12:55.160 --> 0:13:01.040 Africaner granting them that land they can't leave. Men like 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:03.400 Ernst Roots are still standing on the banks of the 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:07.040 Blood River waiting for God to sweep all the Africans 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:12.120 out of their way, and ahead of that whirlwind press Junket. 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:16.280 In February and March, Ernst Ruts actually resigned from his 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:20.000 position as head of the Afrikaner Foundation, and that was 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:23.400 an initiative under the umbrella of the Africanner interest group 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:28.319 the Solidarity Movement, and Ruts says that he hadn't officially 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:33.200 worked for Afroforum since twenty twenty three, but Afroform and 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:38.160 the Africaner Foundation are both just part of the Solidarity movement. 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:41.920 These are just facets of the same organization, and so 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:44.880 now in February of twenty twenty five, he no longer 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:48.079 works for any of these organizations. He no longer works 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:52.640 for Solidarity at all, because it was Roots who got 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:54.720 the organization into some pretty hot water. 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:01.080 Well, all they're saying that we've the organizations that I 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:03.160 was involved with at the time of committed treason, that 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:04.800 we've been charged for treason. 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:05.720 Even charged with treason. 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:09.240 Yeah for what for speaking well, among others, for me 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:12.440 speaking with you about what's happened as treason? Yeah, because 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:16.199 it's bad mouthing your country. 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:21.040 I mean, we've all made mistakes at work, but I 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:25.040 can't imagine making such a mess of things that somebody 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:29.320 gets charged with treason. And he's watering that down a 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:29.760 little bit. 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:30.120 Right. 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:34.280 The accusation isn't just that he's bad mouthing the country. 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:37.200 I'm sure it's legal in South Africa to say negative 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:41.720 things about the nation. But almost immediately after Trump announced 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:44.920 that he was cutting off aid to South Africa, a 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:50.240 lot of South Africans blamed Afro Forum. Members of mkanto 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:52.880 We sizway rallied outside of the police station in Cape 0:14:52.920 --> 0:14:55.760 Town and announced that they were filing a criminal complaint 0:14:55.800 --> 0:15:01.080 against Affro Forum, accusing them of treason. And just a 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:02.880 quick note for those who aren't up to date on 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:08.200 their South African current events, I wasn't on Kandoce's way 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:11.720 is now its own political party. It does share a 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:14.480 name with the group that functioned as the paramilitary arm 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:17.800 of the African National Congress during the last decades of apartheid, 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:20.480 but as of a few years ago, it is a 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:21.640 political party. 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:28.560 So just for clarity, the MK Party vehemently condemns the 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:33.720 trees and US actions of Africa Forum, which has deliberately 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:37.720 low it foreign powers to act against the sovereignty and 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:42.680 economic interests of South Africa. Their betrayal is nothing less 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:47.280 than an act of economic sabotage, a direct assault on 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:49.160 our nations independence. 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:57.520 From many South Africans, it was obvious Trump didn't come 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:00.520 up with this idea on his own. There is a 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:05.600 straight line between afrofums trips to the United States, their 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:10.000 appearances in American right wing media, their collaboration with American 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:15.360 think tanks, their English language propaganda videos targeting American audiences 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:20.600 on American platforms, and the end result, which was this 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:25.360 shift in US foreign policy. Even President Ramaposa has gone 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:29.880 on record blaming Afroform and Solidarity for spreading the lies 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:34.480 about South Africa that led to Trump's executive order. He 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:38.280 called the group unpatriotic in remarks before the National Assembly 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:38.800 in March. 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:44.280 Fact, whether that is treason US or not is a 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:49.560 meta that obviously our law enforcement agencies needs to look at. 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:53.800 The National Prosecuting Agency needs to look at that. But 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:58.040 I take a dim view, in fact, a very negative 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:03.120 view off what has ensued as they run around the 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:08.520 world bed mouthing their own country and putting their country 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:14.640 into distribute, not by things that are happening, but by misinformation. 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:22.040 The matter has been confirmed to be under investigation, but 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:24.879 there has been no decision announced by the National Prosecuting 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:29.680 Authority as to whether the case will proceed. When Ramaposa 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:33.359 gave those remarks on March eleventh, twenty twenty five, he 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:36.000 wasn't just talking about Ernst Roots going on. 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:36.960 Tucker Carlson. 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:41.080 Roots had in fact already resigned from Solidarity by the 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:44.399 time he returned to the US this year. But in 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:48.399 late February, a delegation from Solidarity paid a visit to 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:52.199 the United States. They posted quite a few videos of 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:56.600 themselves outside various government buildings in Washington, d C. They 0:17:56.600 --> 0:17:59.600 posted some videos of them standing in lobbies of government 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:03.280 buildings and one photo that appears to show the delegation 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:08.959 touring the White House with visible visitors badges. There are 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:11.199 no photos of any members of the delegation that I 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:15.560 could find that show them with any actual US policymakers, 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:18.440 but they did take a couple of selfies in front 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:22.880 of a sign that says Committee on Foreign Affairs. One 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:26.000 photo was taken outside the office of Senator Christopher Coons, 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:29.080 a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:34.440 its Africa and Global Health Policy subcommittee. Their press releases 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:38.159 about this visit don't name names, but they claim to 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:41.040 have met with senior officials within the Trump administration during 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:41.520 their visit. 0:18:43.000 --> 0:18:44.359 There's no direct. 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:47.879 Claim made that they met with the President himself, although 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:51.880 one of them did post a cartoon style drawing of 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:55.520 the group that features a cartoon Trump standing with them 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:58.160 in front of the White House, and that is perhaps 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:00.720 meant to insinuate that they were a to secure an 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:04.800 audience with the President. But one member of the delegation 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:08.520 posted something that is more interesting to me than a 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:13.280 selfie at the Capitol Building. On February twenty seventh, Jako 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:18.920 Kleinhans wrote Day three in Washington, d c. Who influences 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:23.280 US government policy a complex network of individuals, organizations, and 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:26.960 governmental and non governmental structures worked daily to develop US 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:30.960 government policy. Recent policy decisions on the relationship with South 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:33.440 Africa have been developed by a few key players at 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:38.080 influential organizations, together with policy specialist in the White House 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:42.159 and Congress. The Solidarity Movement delegation currently visiting the USA 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:45.479 met on day three with several of these influential people 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:48.720 with whom we have forged good relationships over the past 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:53.800 few years, to discuss a way forward. And underneath this 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:59.760 wall of text posted in Afrikaans is a selfie. Visible 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:02.919 in the photo behind Jacko is the entrance to the 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:07.720 offices of the Heritage Foundation. That conservative think tank is not, 0:20:08.119 --> 0:20:11.520 as far as I can tell, publicly commented on the 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:15.880 recently serviced allegations that they worked closely with South African 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:19.760 military intelligence to craft propaganda campaigns during the latter years 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:24.720 of apartheid. South African news outlet The Daily Maverick did 0:20:24.800 --> 0:20:28.320 take extra care to note in their article that the 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:31.880 Heritage Foundation has made no legal challenge to the twenty 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:35.480 twenty one book by a former South African policeman who 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:40.360 claims that former Heritage Foundation president Edwin Fulner was often 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:45.520 consulted for advice by South African intelligence operatives who ran 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:50.960 the government's apartheid disinformation campaigns. And if you can remember 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:53.640 all the way back to the first episode in this series, 0:20:54.440 --> 0:20:58.040 the first time Trump tweeted about South Africa, he was 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:02.720 watching Tucker Carlson interview a policy analyst from the Heritage Foundation. 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:21.399 Just something to mull over, I guess and whoever it 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:23.800 was that the delegation was able to meet with at 0:21:23.800 --> 0:21:28.880 the White House, that person received an official memorandum from Solidarity, 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:33.520 and they also posted that document to their website. Much 0:21:33.600 --> 0:21:36.760 like Ernst Rutz, they're grateful to the Trump administration for 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:39.680 raising awareness about the plight of the white South African 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:44.160 but they too want the United States to use its 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:47.120 power to pressure South Africa to bend to the will 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:51.240 of whites, rather than simply offering those aggrieved white South 0:21:51.240 --> 0:21:56.320 Africans the opportunity to settle in the United States. Much 0:21:56.359 --> 0:22:00.479 of the text of this memorandum reads pretty transparently as 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:05.520 an attempt to smooth over the whole treason situation. They 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:10.240 emphasize repeatedly that they do not support Trump's decision to 0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:13.960 cut off humanitarian aid, and they urge Washington not to 0:22:14.000 --> 0:22:18.080 suspend the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a US law 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:22.920 that allows some African nations, including South Africa, tariff free 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:27.960 access to US markets. And as much as they appreciate 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:34.000 Trumps offer to take Africaners as refugees, they want to stay. 0:22:34.800 --> 0:22:38.840 One section of the memo reads, although individuals may qualify 0:22:38.880 --> 0:22:41.840 for a resettlement program, the majority of Africaners will still 0:22:41.880 --> 0:22:46.080 remain in South Africa. During the past thirty years, Africaners 0:22:46.080 --> 0:22:50.040 have begun to establish cultural infrastructure in South Africa so 0:22:50.080 --> 0:22:52.960 that we can still live here freely and safely in 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:55.439 order for us to make a sustainable contribution toward the 0:22:55.440 --> 0:22:58.440 country and all its people. This is being done under 0:22:58.440 --> 0:23:02.040 the banner of the Solidarity movement, with Solidarity and AFROFUM 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:07.639 being the largest organizations. Security structures, social structures, job structures, 0:23:07.800 --> 0:23:12.320 training structures, and cultural structures have been established. All of 0:23:12.320 --> 0:23:16.000 this is being done without state support, and at the 0:23:16.000 --> 0:23:21.120 bottom of that section they make several recommendations. They recommend 0:23:21.160 --> 0:23:26.200 the United States should, instead of offering refugee resettlement, offer 0:23:26.320 --> 0:23:31.199 direct aid to these Africaner communities quote to assist with 0:23:31.280 --> 0:23:37.520 community infrastructure protecting Africaners. This includes security structures, social structures, 0:23:37.600 --> 0:23:42.359 job structure, training structures, and infrastructure to settle africaners in 0:23:42.440 --> 0:23:49.040 vulnerable places in a concentrated manner. So they're saying they 0:23:49.080 --> 0:23:53.520 want help moving all of the white people to a 0:23:53.560 --> 0:23:56.520 place in South Africa. Still they don't want to leave 0:23:56.560 --> 0:23:58.600 South Africa, but they need help moving all of the 0:23:58.640 --> 0:24:03.320 white people into a concentrated place. So a place that's 0:24:03.400 --> 0:24:08.960 all white, and that sounds kind of like a mini 0:24:09.000 --> 0:24:14.080 ethno state, a folkstot, if you will, an island of 0:24:14.119 --> 0:24:18.480 apartheid and a sea of integration, and that does in 0:24:18.600 --> 0:24:24.560 fact already exist. And here's where I have to confess 0:24:24.600 --> 0:24:29.720 something to you. I overlooked something in retrospect pretty obvious. 0:24:31.160 --> 0:24:33.560 Remember I said a few minutes ago that Ernst Rutz 0:24:33.600 --> 0:24:37.040 had resigned from his position with Solidarity and his trip 0:24:37.040 --> 0:24:39.000 to the United States in March of twenty twenty five 0:24:39.440 --> 0:24:45.159 was totally separate from this delegation. Well it might not 0:24:45.280 --> 0:24:49.600 have actually been that separate. I mean they flew here separately, 0:24:49.640 --> 0:24:52.760 They were here during different weeks, and they claimed to 0:24:52.760 --> 0:24:56.840 be from separate organizations. Roots was here in the United 0:24:56.840 --> 0:25:02.280 States with used Stridum, the current sy of Urania, a 0:25:02.320 --> 0:25:08.200 white separatist community in South Africa's Northern Cape province. Yako Kleinhans, 0:25:08.400 --> 0:25:11.600 the International liaison for Solidarity, who was here with that 0:25:12.320 --> 0:25:16.360 other delegation. He used to be the CEO of Irania. 0:25:17.359 --> 0:25:21.159 He and his family live there. His wife, Magdalen, was 0:25:21.200 --> 0:25:24.720 featured in a Guardian article about the community in twenty nineteen. 0:25:25.800 --> 0:25:28.760 She runs the call center in Irania that recruits members 0:25:28.800 --> 0:25:34.720 and solicits donations. So they're the same people. The Venn 0:25:34.720 --> 0:25:39.000 diagram is a circle. They present slightly different public faces. 0:25:39.520 --> 0:25:42.400 I mean, Solidarity was allowed into the White House while 0:25:42.400 --> 0:25:45.359 the delegation officially from Irania was stuck doing events like 0:25:45.640 --> 0:25:48.560 Wine Wednesday at the New York Young Republicans Club. 0:25:50.640 --> 0:25:51.560 But it's sort of like. 0:25:51.520 --> 0:25:54.880 How sometimes the name brand ketchup and the store brand 0:25:54.920 --> 0:25:57.760 ketchup are made at the same factory and they just 0:25:57.840 --> 0:26:02.119 package them in different bottles. The two groups traveled the 0:26:02.200 --> 0:26:06.119 United States separately a few weeks apart. They met with 0:26:06.160 --> 0:26:09.840 slightly different crowds and marketed the message ever so slightly differently. 0:26:10.880 --> 0:26:13.919 But ultimately what they want is for the United States 0:26:13.920 --> 0:26:17.520 to officially recognize their three point five square mile whites 0:26:17.560 --> 0:26:21.520 only town of three thousand people as an autonomous state. 0:26:24.200 --> 0:26:27.280 And in February, while that first delegation, the one from 0:26:27.359 --> 0:26:31.479 Solidarity was in Washington, d C. An American neo Nazi 0:26:31.520 --> 0:26:37.159 group posted photos of their trip to South Africa. A 0:26:37.240 --> 0:26:41.680 regional chapter within the Active Club Network visited Urania quote 0:26:41.760 --> 0:26:44.400 to gain a deeper understanding of how whites can form 0:26:44.440 --> 0:26:49.520 intentional communities. During the first week of March, the delegation 0:26:49.600 --> 0:26:52.040 from Solidarity finished out their trip in the United States 0:26:52.119 --> 0:26:56.560 with a visit to California. Specifically, they went to Los Angeles. 0:26:57.600 --> 0:27:01.280 More specifically, they had lunch with Joel Poum, the editor 0:27:01.320 --> 0:27:05.480 at large of the far right rag Breitbart. After lunch, 0:27:05.600 --> 0:27:09.040 Pollock tweeted a photo captioned just had lunch at a 0:27:09.160 --> 0:27:13.080 kosher restaurant owned by Steven Spielberg's mom with four gentlemen 0:27:13.119 --> 0:27:17.679 from afroform Slash Solidarity. The South African government is investigating 0:27:17.680 --> 0:27:20.240 them for treason for the crime of sharing their views 0:27:20.240 --> 0:27:27.359 of Americans. The treason was delicious, okay, Joel, not to 0:27:27.440 --> 0:27:32.400 nitpick and first of all, super cringe, but Steven Spielberg's 0:27:32.440 --> 0:27:37.720 mom is dead. Lea Adler, Spielberg's mother did open the 0:27:37.760 --> 0:27:41.080