Former lawyer of president Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, has outlined alleged incidents of racism in a new book – including his thoughts on South Africa, and former president and struggle icon Nelson Mandela.
Cohen’s tell-all memoir, as reported in the Washington Post, alleges that Trump made numerous racist remarks directed at his predecessor, Barack Obama, saying that he only got into Columbia University and Harvard Law School because of “affirmative action”.
Trump, according to Cohen, had “hatred and contempt” for Obama, while he alleges that the US president also has a “low opinion of all black folks”.
The US president, according to the article, said in a rant about Obama: “Tell me one country run by a black person that isn’t a s—hole. They are all complete f—ing toilets.”
And following the death of former president Nelson Mandela, in 2013, Trump allegedly said he did not think Mandela “was a real leader — not the kind he respected.”
Cohen alleged that Trump praised apartheid-era South Africa rule, saying: “Mandela f—ed the whole country up. Now it’s a s—hole. F— Mandela. He was no leader.”
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement Saturday: “Michael Cohen is a disgraced felon and disbarred lawyer, who lied to Congress. He has lost all credibility, and it’s unsurprising to see his latest attempt to profit off of lies.”
As far back as 2013, Trump, using his preferred medium, Twitter, called South Africa a ‘crime-ridden mess ready to explode’. He then followed that up with further derogatory comments in 2015.
I really like Nelson Mandela but South Africa is a crime ridden mess that is just waiting to explode-not a good situation for the people!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2013
As I have long been saying, South Africa is a total – and very dangerous – mess. Just watch the evening news (when not talking weather).
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 20, 2015
The US leader also raised eyebrows in 2018 after he tweeted that the South African government was ‘seizing land from white farmers’.
He subsequently asked his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, to study the seizure and expropriation of land in South Africa, along with the killing of farmers.
Read: This is what Donald Trump ‘really’ meant when he called South Africa a crime-ridden mess