In a bold move that has stirred global attention, President Donald Trump has extended a lifeline to White South African farmers facing targeted violence and government-sanctioned land theft, labeling their plight a “genocide.” On May 12, 2025, Trump announced that these farmers, primarily Afrikaners or “Boers,” would be welcomed as refugees in the United States to escape what he described as “brutal killings” and land confiscation in a post-apartheid South Africa. This stance has spotlighted a crisis long ignored by the liberal media in the U.S., which downplays the violence and chants of “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer” while clinging to the myth of South Africa as a “rainbow nation.” The media’s silence contrasts sharply with the grim reality: a crime-ridden country where White farmers face persecution, and the lessons of Zimbabwe’s disastrous land reforms loom large as a warning of self-inflicted collapse.
Trump’s Call: Recognizing a Crisis as Genocide
Trump’s recognition of the violence against White South African farmers as a genocide marks a significant departure from the narrative peddled by establishment media. In February 2025, he signed an executive order cutting U.S. aid to South Africa, citing “violent attacks on innocent disfavored minority farmers” and offering resettlement to those facing “unjust racial discrimination.” He reiterated this on May 12, stating, “White farmers are being brutally killed and their land is being confiscated,” emphasizing that the U.S. would not stand idly by. His actions build on earlier concerns raised in 2018, when he directed then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to investigate “the large-scale killing of farmers” and land seizures, a claim sparked by Fox News coverage but dismissed by mainstream outlets as a myth.
The violence is undeniable. South African farm attacks—violent crimes including murder, rape, and robbery—target farmers of all races, but White farmers, who own 73% of profitable farmland despite being 7% of the population, are disproportionately affected in the public eye. From October to December 2024, 12 people were killed in farm attacks, though racial breakdowns are not officially reported. AfriForum, an Afrikaner rights group, claims eight farm homicides in the same period, suggesting underreporting by police. The chant “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer,” popularized by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and sung at rallies, fuels fears of racially motivated violence. In 2023, EFF leader Julius Malema led a stadium in chanting the song, prompting Elon Musk to denounce it as a call for genocide. South Africa’s Supreme Court ruled in 2024 that the song does not incite violence. Maybe it’s just ‘part of their culture’?
The Liberal Media’s Blind Spot
The U.S. liberal media has largely dismissed these concerns, framing the narrative as a “disproven racial myth” or White nationalist conspiracy. Outlets like The New York Times, NBC, and The Washington Post have cited experts who argue that farm attacks are part of South Africa’s broader crime problem, with no evidence of racial targeting. They point to South Africa’s high murder rate—19,000 annually, with farm murders (47 in 2017-18) being a small fraction—and claim White farmers are not disproportionately targeted. Former U.S. Ambassador Patrick Gaspard called the genocide narrative a “falsehood” in 2018, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has rejected claims of persecution, urging unity.
This dismissal ignores the lived reality of White farmers, who face brutal attacks in isolated rural areas, often accompanied by anti-White vitriol. The media’s reluctance to engage with the issue stems from an unwillingness to tarnish the image of post-apartheid South Africa as a success story. By framing the violence as mere crime, they sidestep uncomfortable questions about racial resentment and policies like the 2024 Expropriation Act, which allows land seizures without compensation in some cases. Critics argue this law risks repeating Zimbabwe’s catastrophic land reforms, yet the liberal press downplays it as a clarification of existing powers. Posts on social media reflect frustration with this silence, with users noting that if any other racial group were targeted, the media would cry genocide.
Zimbabwe’s Cautionary Tale: From Breadbasket to Starvation
South Africa’s trajectory echoes Zimbabwe’s disastrous land reforms under Robert Mugabe, a warning of what happens when racial retribution overrides pragmatism. In the early 2000s, Zimbabwe’s government launched a violent campaign to seize White-owned farms without compensation, aiming to redress colonial-era land theft (back when the country was Rhodesia). Over 4,000 White farmers were driven off their land, often killed or brutalized, with Mugabe’s supporters occupying farms they lacked the expertise to manage. The result was catastrophic: Zimbabwe, once Africa’s breadbasket, saw agricultural production collapse, leading to hyperinflation, food shortages, and mass starvation. By 2008, the economy was in ruins, with millions reliant on food aid.
Desperate to recover, Zimbabwe’s government later begged White farmers to return. In 2020, President Emmerson Mnangagwa established a compensation committee to pay displaced farmers, admitting their expertise was vital to food security. Yet, the damage was done: many farmers had fled to countries like Australia or Zambia, and those who returned faced ongoing hostility. The irony is stark—Zimbabwe’s attempt to “get back” at White farmers left its people starving, proving that ideological land grabs harm the very communities they claim to uplift. South Africa’s Expropriation Act risks a similar fate, with critics warning of plummeting land values, violent land grabs, and food insecurity.
A Self-Inflicted Wound
South Africa’s push for land reform is rooted in trying to redress what is seen as historical injustice—under apartheid, Black South Africans were barred from owning most land, leaving Whites with 72% of farmland post-1994. But the solution—expropriation without compensation and tolerance of inflammatory rhetoric like “Kill the Boer”—threatens to destabilize the nation. White farmers are not just landowners; they are skilled producers feeding the country. Driving them out, as Zimbabwe did, risks economic collapse and hunger. AfriForum and others warn that the government’s policies, coupled with unchecked farm attacks, could erode food security and alienate investors.
Trump’s offer to resettle White farmers is a pragmatic response to a crisis the liberal media refuses to acknowledge. By calling it a genocide, he challenges the narrative that South Africa’s problems are merely criminal, not racial. Posts on social media praise his intervention, noting that he’s the only world leader addressing the issue. Yet, South Africa’s government remains defiant, with Ramaphosa insisting there’s no persecution and recently calling the farm families who fled “cowards.” This denial, coupled with the media’s complicity, allows the crisis to fester, pushing South Africa toward Zimbabwe’s fate.
A Call for Clarity
Trump’s welcoming of White South African farmers shines a light on a genocide that the liberal media buries under platitudes about crime rates. The chants of “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer” and the Expropriation Act signal a dangerous path, one Zimbabwe already traveled to its ruin. By targeting White farmers, South Africa risks shooting itself in the foot, sacrificing food security for revenge. Rural Americans, facing their own pressures to embrace untested “green” policies, should see this as a warning: ideology over practicality can lead to collapse. Trump’s stand, while controversial, forces a reckoning with a truth too long ignored—South Africa’s “rainbow nation” is fracturing, and the world must act before it’s too late.