United States president Donald Trump, usually known for his hardline anti-immigration rhetoric and policies, has made an exception for Afrikaners from South Africa, who he claims face persecution in their home country.
Trump has made repeated false claims that white farmers, in particular, have been targets of violence and state persecution in South Africa.
Africa Check has debunked some of Trump’s most notorious claims on the topic, made in a public meeting with South African president Cyril Ramaphosa on 21 May 2025.
A week earlier, the first 59 Afrikaners granted “refugee” status by Trump arrived in the US. It is in this context that several Facebook users have shared an article headlined: “Trump Disappointed to Learn SA Refugees Have No Farming Expertise: ‘They Were Just a Bunch of Car Guards,’ He Says.”
While the original article is satire, never intended to deceive, it has since been shared out of context as though it were actual news. It has also been used as the basis for at least one further article which pretends to be news and treats the original source as though it were fact.
If the headline of the article sounds unusual, the first paragraph is even more absurd:
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a move that has surprised absolutely no one except himself, U.S. President Donald J. Trump expressed profound disappointment this week upon discovering that the first group of South African refugees admitted under his much-hyped “Mission South...
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