President Donald Trump flew into a rage during a chaotic Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa — and had to be “calmed down” by a white billionaire in the room, according to New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman.
Speaking on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, Haberman described the meeting as a “trainwreck” and said Trump was “riled up” from the start. What was supposed to be a diplomatic sit-down turned into a bizarre confrontation, with Trump showing Ramaphosa a propaganda video pushing false claims of a “White Genocide” in South Africa.
“This is something that Trump wants attention on,” Haberman told Cooper. “The confrontation that Trump initiated in the Oval Office has been on his mind and some of his aides’ minds for some time.”
According to Haberman, Trump took a harsh tone with Black officials in the room and became even more aggressive when asked about an unrelated issue — a Qatari jet being considered as the next Air Force One.
“He just sort of was off to the races after that,” Haberman said.
The room reportedly grew tense as Trump lashed out and refused to listen to corrections from staff or the South African delegation. Ramaphosa himself pushed back on Trump’s claims, saying, “What is this? This is not anything I’ve ever seen.”
Trump didn’t care.
He continued pressing the narrative, even holding up a doctored photo to support his claims. But it wasn’t until South African billionaire Johann Rupert — who is white — stepped in that Trump’s behavior shifted.
“That was the first moment that Trump really calmed down,” Haberman said. “Despite the fact that he had a pretty lecturing and angry tone with a lot of the Black officials who were talking, it was when that White billionaire executive was talking to him.”
Still, calming down didn’t mean backing down. Trump ignored factual corrections from both sides of the room and stayed fixated on his version of the story. “He clearly didn’t accept what he was being told, which was just factual information,” Haberman said.
The White House’s official social media account even posted the video Trump showed during the meeting almost immediately afterward — suggesting this wasn’t an impulsive move, but a planned spectacle.
“He’s very happy there is a lot of news coverage of it now,” Haberman noted.
Watch the CNN clip below:
Maggie Haberman Says Trump Was ‘Riled Up’ in Bonkers Oval Scene Until ‘White Billionaire’ Calmed Him Downhttps://t.co/eVlOXE2xES pic.twitter.com/S7qORBWDSj
— Tommy moderna-vaX-Topher (@tommyxtopher) May 22, 2025
