Trump's finding Afrikaner 'refugees' is just part of his political spectacle

On Sunday evening, 11 May, a small group of people left OR Tambo International Airport on a chartered flight destined for the US.

- Stephen Grootes

They were the culmination of what appears to have been weeks of effort by US authorities to find people who could be argued to harbour a risk of persecution because they are white and Afrikaans.

Although little is known about them, it is presumed that they were judged by the Trump administration to qualify for “refugee status”. As many have pointed out, this is virtually unique in US history. Certainly, since the end of World War 2, the US has never sent officials to a particular place to literally look for refugees.

Coming as Trump's officials are looking for reasons to stop so many other people from coming into the US, the reason is obviously political. This could solve several problems for him. First, his campaign was fought on the myth that white people are victims, that efforts under what Americans call “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) policies discriminate against them.

As there is a vanishingly small number of white victims of discrimination in the world, Trump has to make them up.