Rubio says South Africa’s ambassador to the US ‘is no longer welcome’ in the country

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that South Africa’s ambassador to the United States “is no longer welcome” in the country, in the latest Trump administration move targeting the African nation. But Rubio linked to a story by the ultraconservative Breitbart news site about a talk Rasool gave earlier Friday as part of a South African think tank’s webinar in which he spoke about actions taken by the Trump administration in the context of a United States where white people soon would no longer be in the majority. Both Trump and his ally Elon Musk, who grew up in South Africa, have criticized the country’s Black-led government over a new land law they claim discriminates against white people. “The supremacist assault on incumbency, we see it in the domestic politics of the U.S.A., the MAGA movement, the Make America Great Again movement, as a response not simply to a supremacist instinct, but to very clear data that shows great demographic shifts in the U.S.A. in which the voting electorate in the U.S.A. is projected to become 48% white,” the South African ambassador said, He pointed to Musk’s outreach to far-right figures in Europe, calling it a “dog whistle” in a global movement trying to rally people who see themselves as part of an “embattled white community.” Rasool made no pointed attack on Trump and instead offered tips for dealing with his administration, saying, “This is not a moment to antagonize the United States” and “Let’s avoid things that cock a snoot at the United States.” His ouster comes after Trump signed an executive order that cut aid and assistance to the Black-led South African government.