Golfers, guile and gifts: South Africa's president follows the new playbook for handling Trump

After maulings for Zelenskyy and King Abdullah of Jordan, South Africa's Ramaphosa may have shown other leaders how to prepare for Trump’s Oval Office bear pit.

After maulings for Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and King Abdullah of Jordan, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa may have just shown other world leaders how to prepare for President Donald Trump’s Oval Office bear pit.

Historically, these White House sit-downs were dull affairs, replete with grip-and-grin platitudes and geopolitical jargon. Not so during the second term of Trump, who has transformed his office into a gladiatorial arena.

There was February’s stunning bust-up by Vice President JD Vance against Zelenskyy. The same month, Abdullah could not hide his chagrin as Trump spoke at length about his plans to take control of the Gaza Strip.

So, South Africa's Ramaphosa seemed unsurprised when Trump ambushed him Wednesday — the U.S. president even dimmed the lights for a screening of news clips alleging that white farmers are victims of a genocide in South Africa.

Most experts agree this is a false, baseless claim, seized upon by Trump since employing as an adviser the South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, who was in the Oval Office on Wednesday.