Has Trump gifted the ANC a lifeline?: John Matisonn

Key topics:Ramaphosa gains politically from Trump's public insultsANC may use anti-US sentiment to rally patriotic votersGlobal leaders boosted by Trump attacks in past elections.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By John Matisonn.Many red-blooded South Africans who don’t like the way the ANC governs will like even less a 28-year old American woman sneering that our president is “running his mouth off” for saying he received a message that the US was reconsidering its stance on the G20.In America, the term is intentionally derogatory.White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt was born three years after South Africa became a democracy. Whatever Cyril Ramaphosa's many failings as president, by the time Leavitt was born he had grown up under apartheid, qualified as a lawyer, built the biggest trade union in Africa, shown courage fighting the apartheid machine, and helped get his hero, Nelson Mandela, out of jail and into the presidency..Read more:.FT: Maga Inc. – how Donald Trump’s allies stand to gain from ‘anti-woke’ resurgence.For the president’s inexperienced young spokesperson to disrespect the 73-year-old leader of 65 million people just as many Africans are proud that he pulled off a world event that had never happened on African soil was unseemly. Ramaphosa must be very pleased.It’s the oldest trick in the book. John Vorster did it. Ian Smith did it. Robert Mugabe certainly did it, and Ramaphosa’s ANC is almost certain to do it.When your domestic policies hit a dead-end, how do you face your voters? You change the subject. You make the American president your election campaign target. It’s a guaranteed voter-getter. Vorster, Smith and Mugabe won elections campaigning against US president Jimmy Carter, and Ian Smith did the same. We will not be dictated to by America, they railed. The voters loved it. If Ramaphosa uses the same formula to bolster a flagging career in the next election, it won’t be the first time Donald Trump has rescued politicians he did not like after their voters had turned their back. Mark Carney’s centre-left Liberal party faced certain defeat nine months ago, until Trump went for Canada. Both Carney and Trump have acknowledged that Carney would not be prime minister if Trump had not. Carney’s opponent, a Trump sympathiser, was sunk. The same happened to rescue centre-left Australian Labour prime minister Anthony Albanese. He was also on track for a certain loss until Trump gave him the card to play. A vote for Trump’s enemy was a vote for patriotism.The ANC has used foreign policy to fight elections before. Last year the issue was Gaza, but Gaza has less universal resonance than an American president insulting our standing as a nation.For Ramaphosa, Trump’s continued insults could be the gift that kept on giving, politically. The ANC has lost its chance to claim it’s delivered for ordinary South Africans, so there is one thing left – appeal to their patriotism.It’s a matter of pride..Read more:.ANC under siege: Budget, voters, and global pressure – John Endres.The truth is Johannesburg G20 received little media attention abroad, and almost none in the US. But South Africans are proud they hosted the first global event of its kind on the African continent, and did it well. As a matter of pure politics, it would be in the DA’s interest to take Ramaphosa’s side on this one. Running a campaign against Trump in South Africa might make no logical sense, but elections are not always about logic.

Has Trump gifted the ANC a lifeline?: John Matisonn

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