Trump thinks that he can bully Africa – but America will be the loser

At around the same time last month as South African president Cyril Ramaphosa was arriving at the White House ahead of his Oval Office ambush, a Gulfstream V was on its way to South Sudan.

- Steve Bloomfield

On board were eight migrants to the United States who were all being deported, but at least five of them had never set foot in Africa, let alone in South Sudan.

The flight tells us as much about Donald Trump's transactional relationships with Africa as the embarrassing, fact-free reality show in the White House. In his first term, Trump dismissed Africa as being full of “shithole” countries, whose citizens should not be allowed into the US. His views do not appear to have changed. What's different this time around is that he wants something from them.

These relationships are no longer about economic ties, development or values. They are all about extraction: what can America - or more precisely, Trump - get out of Africa?

From the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), he wants minerals; from countries like South Sudan and Rwanda he wants a place to send migrants; and from South Africa he wants a race-baiting storyline that appeals to his base.