In a bold move that underscores America’s resolve, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has declared South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool as persona non grata. This designation, a strong diplomatic rebuke, is reserved for officials whose actions are deemed unacceptable by a host nation.
The decision comes on the heels of a series of contentious statements by Rasool, who accused former President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement of orchestrating a “global white supremacist movement.” Such accusations are not only unfounded but a clear affront to American values and leadership, prompting Rubio to take decisive action.
According to Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), a diplomat declared persona non grata must leave the host country within a set timeframe. Typically, this ranges from 24 to 72 hours, depending on the case’s severity. Should the envoy refuse to depart, the host nation retains the right to initiate deportation proceedings.
Rubio took to social media platform X to make this announcement:
“South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country. Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates POTUS. We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA.”
— Marco Rubio
March 14, 2025
An article from Breitbart sheds light on Rasool’s inflammatory remarks during a foreign policy seminar in Johannesburg. Hosted by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA), Rasool launched into an all-out verbal assault against Trump, his allies, and conservative movements worldwide.
Rasool alleged that Trump’s America First agenda, which opposes radical leftist globalist entities and critiques South Africa’s socialist land policies, was part of a “white supremacist assault on incumbency.” His statements were not just baseless, but a misrepresentation of the defense of national sovereignty and constitutional principles.
In an exaggerated diatribe, Rasool linked the MAGA movement to a supposed reaction to changing U.S. demographics, portraying it as a bid to preserve “white power.” He even accused South African Afrikaner farmers, victims of oppressive land expropriation laws, of furthering “white victimhood” on a global scale.
What Donald Trump is launching is an assault on incumbency, those who are in power, by mobilizing a supremacism against the incumbency, at home, and — I think I’ve illustrated — abroad as well. So in terms of that, the supremacist assault on incumbency, we see it in the domestic politics of the USA, 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 USA in which the voting electorate in the USA is projected to become 48% white. And that the possibility of a majority of minorities is looming on the horizon. And so that needs to be factored in, so that we understand some of the things that we think are instinctive, nativist, racist things, I think that there’s data that, for example, would support that, that would go to this wall being built, the deportation movement, et cetera et cetera.
So I think I’d mention that. I think that there is also an export of the revolution. It’s no accident that Elon Musk has involved himself in UK politics, and elevated a Nigel Farage and the Reform movement, in much the same way that he was instructed that on his way to the Munich security summit, Vice President Vance addressed the Alternative für Deutschland [AfD] to strengthen them in their election campaign. And that, then, begins to say, what then was the role of Afrikaners in that whole makeup. And very clearly, it’s to project white victimhood as a dog whistle that there is a global protective movement that is beginning to envelop embattled white communities or apparently embattles white communities. It may not be true, it may not make sense, but that is not the dog whistle that is being heard in a global, white base. So I think we need to understand all of that. Another discontinuity — it’s almost that they are pitting a supremacist insurgency against the incumbency.
The U.S. stands firm against such divisive rhetoric, ensuring that diplomats like Rasool are held accountable for their baseless and inflammatory remarks. By declaring Rasool persona non grata, the United States sends a clear message: American values and leadership cannot and will not be denigrated by foreign officials.
The United States has declared South Africa’s Ambassador to the U.S. persona non grata (PNG).
Secretary Marco Rubio announced the decision, citing this clip and referring to Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool as a “race-baiting politician who hates America and [President Trump].”…
— Yashar Ali
March 14, 2025
