Trump’s new envoy to SA: A diplomatic powder keg?

US President Donald Trump has more than “doubled down” on his first efforts to flay this country alive for its foreign and domestic policies – by nominating an archconservative as Washington’s new representative in Pretoria.

Leo Brent Bozell III, a conservative activist, is the father of one of the people charged with storming the US Capitol on 6 January, 2021.

He is also the founder of the Media Research Centre, whose mandate is to expose liberal bias in the media.

Bozell is an outspoken supporter of Israel in much the same way our recently expelled ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, is an outspoken supporter of Palestine.

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It will be interesting to see whether President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government objects to Bozell in the same way US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attacked Rasool before declaring him persona non grata.

Perhaps Bozell will be more measured and less confrontational than people expect him to be – but this is highly unlikely given the Trump administration’s “pull the pin out of the grenade and throw it” attitude.

Pretoria has been more muted in recent days as the potential ramifications of the American threats sink in.

Will the politics of reality win over ideology and principle?

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