The trigger for Rubio seemed to be remarks Rasool delivered remotely to a Johannesburg think tank earlier Friday. A Breitbart News article referred to in Rubio's post said Rasool accused Trump of "mobilizing" white supremacy in the US and abroad, per the Washington Post. The speech also mentioned Vice President JD Vance's support for Germany's right-wing party, Alternative for Germany, and Elon Musk's role in the Trump administration. Musk is a South African by birth who has also backed AfD and far-right movements elsewhere.
The US is expelling South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, Pretoria confirmed Saturday. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Ebrahim Rasool of being a “a “race-baiting politician” who hates the US and President Donald Trump, saying he is no longer welcome. He was given 72 hours to leave the country, according to South African media.
Trump cited the targeting of South Africa’s Afrikaners, who are descendants of Dutch colonial settlers, through a new law which allows the government to expropriate private land. The Expropriation Act was signed into law earlier this year. It allows the government to seize land that is not currently being used, using the excuse that it would be in the best “public interest” for it to be redistributed. Trump-ally Elon Musk, an immigrant from South African, criticized the law as a threat to South Africa’s White minority.
