Smart way to tackle Trump

He's world's most influential leader and SA must consider cost of escalating fallout.

- Ryk van Niekerk

I have worked in many newsrooms during my career, and there was always a search for the "oh shit" story - the one that makes the reader jerk upright or spill their coffee in amazement. We had one last Friday. It came in the form of President Donald Trump's executive order halting all aid to South Africa, citing the government's "shocking disregard of its citizens' rights" through the (alleged) expropriation of Afrikaner land without compensation.

He condemned broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) policies, describing them as "designed to dismantle equal opportunity in employment, education and business" and accused SA of fuelling "disproportionate violence against racially disfavoured landowners".

SA's response must be careful, calculated and unemotional. Trump is clearly wrong about the extent of expropriations in the country and that violent crime is limited to farm murders. We need to remember who we are dealing with.

Trump is not a statesman. His legal record reveals a pattern of deception, ethical lapses and disregard for accountability. His criminal conviction in the New York hush-money case - falsifying business records to conceal a payment to a porn star to keep her silent about an extra-marital affair - underscores his willingness to manipulate information for personal and political advantage.