South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is bringing champion golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen to the White House with him in an effort to charm President Donald Trump during their meetings on Wednesady.
Els, nicknamed “The Big Easy,” was one of the most dominant golfers of his era, second only to Tiger Woods in a celebrated rivalry. Goosen is also a former champion who dominated the PGA tour two decades ago.
Both are apparently being included in the delegation in an effort to smooth over relations with Trump, who is also close friends with South African champion Gary Player, who will turn 90 this year and is still playing.
Other non-governmental representatives in the delegation include businessman Johann Rupert, who is being credited with helping Ramaphosa to arrange the meeting at a time of frosty U.S.-South Africa relations.
Notably absent: any substantive compromises on the South African side. Ramaphosa and fellow officials, such as former opposition leader John Steenhuisen, whose Democratic Alliance party is now in a governing coalition with Ramaphosa’s African National Congress, have said instead that their main focus is to counter Trmp’s claims of white “genocide” in South Africa. (Els, Goosen, Rupert, and Steenhuisen are all white.)
Ramaphosa has also said that he wants a trade deal with Trump, but South Africa has not proposed any specific deal, nor has it offered changes on any of the critical issues Trump identified earlier this year.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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