President Trump has imposed sanctions on South Africa in retaliation for a new South African law that allows the expropriation of land without compensation that is aimed at White farmers. The order, titled "Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa," takes South Africa's institutionalized racism, combines it with its pro-terrorist sympathies, and uses them as a rationale to do something that should have been done long ago:

The United States cannot support the government of South Africa’s commission of rights violations in its country or its ‘undermining United States foreign policy, which poses national security threats to our Nation, our allies, our African partners, and our interests.

Sec. 2.  Policy.  It is the policy of the United States that, as long as South Africa continues these unjust and immoral practices that harm our Nation:
          (a)  the United States shall not provide aid or assistance to South Africa; and
          (b)  the United States shall promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation.

This order brings to a head a conflict that has been brewing since President Trump first called out the kakistocracy (or coprostocracy, to coin a term) that rules South Africa; see Trump to South Africa: No More Money for You Unless You Stop Doing 'Terrible Things.'

Even though South African President Cyril Ramaphosa denied the land confiscation law is aimed at Afrikaners, sane people do not believe it. He has denied that the slaughter is racially based, but the fact is that the perpetrators and victims are very monochromatic. For decades, White farmers have been subjected to ambushes and organized attacks on their farms. Hundreds, along with their families, have been killed in what appears to be organized, or at least as organized as the South African government is capable of, ethnic cleansing by murder and terrorism. One might have thought that the end of apartheid might have brought with it some revulsion at laws encouraging racial discrimination, but you'd be wrong. Of the 313 racially discriminatory laws adopted by South Africa since independence, 116 (37 percent) have been passed since the end of White rule. Making matters worse, the all-time popular singalong "Kill the Boer" is a staple at political rallies.

It is unclear what impact this will have on South Africa. My guess is that Ramaphosa will double down with his racism and fascism as that is all any of the major South African parties seem capable of offering. The one part of this that is deadly serious is the invitation for Afrikaners to emigrate. If a large number of them start looking for the exits, and I'm not enough of an authority on that country to hazard a guess because the Afrikaners have been in southern South Africa longer than the current Black population, the economic impact will be extreme. Rhodesia was a major food exporter. However, Zimbabwe, after land confiscation much like that envisioned by South Africa, is an economic and agricultural basket case.

Quite honestly, it is really about time the West started treating South Africa like the Third World s*** hole that it is. It has dined out on the legend of Nelson Mandela for thirty years while engaging in behavior much more oppressive than that of the government it replaced. Moral cowardice by the West has allowed brutality and corruption to flourish. Hopefully, those days are over for the United States. We will really know they are over when Trump starts treating members of the South African government like we treat human rights abusers from any other place in the world. He should suspend their visas and confiscate any assets they have hidden in US banks.