Donald Trump’s Coercive Diplomatic Tactics Towards World Leaders Resemble the Forgotten Encounter between Adolf Hitler and Emil Hacha

KONANANI RALIGILIA|May 22, 2025

OVAL MEETING: The US delegation meeting with the South African delegation at the White House in Washington DC, on 21 May 2025. The author has likened the meeting with the encounter between the former Nazi German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and former Czechoslovak President Emil Hacha a few years before the outbreak of World War II. Photo: South African Presidency

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s meeting with US President Donald Trump in the White House on 21 May 2025 prompted me to draw international diplomatic parallels in the manner in which the latter treats world leaders, especially in the Oval Office. This meeting reminds me of the infamous 28 February 2025 encounter aimed at fostering a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia in the White House, which was later overshadowed by a heated and embarrassing exchange between Trump, his Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during their diplomatic engagement.

It was even more shocking that the nature of engagements played out embarrassingly in front of the media, with millions of people around the globe watching the discussion unfold. Typically, diplomatic engagements should be conducted in a more mature, structured, and respectful manner. There is no doubt that the South African delegation was also met with a similarly hostile reception, and no world leader has ever humiliated another leader in the post-World War and Cold War era in such a manner.

This is so because, ideally, world leaders preside over sovereign states and enjoy the same status under international diplomatic relations. It is in this context that political science compels me to draw parallels between the meeting which occurred between Trump, Zelensky, and Ramaphosa and the forgotten encounter between the former Nazi German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and former Czechoslovak President Emil Hacha a few years before the outbreak of World War II.

However, it is quite ironic that all these meetings revolved around the international diplomatic narrative under the guise of the pursuit of peace. This includes World War II, particularly regarding Hitler and Hacha, as well as the attempts to prevent World War III, exemplified by Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy. It also touches on the unfounded claims of false genocide and land expropriation without compensation in South Africa, which was demonstrated during Trump’s meeting with Ramaphosa.

History reminds me of the frail leader Hacha, who was invited to the Nazi German Chancellery, the workplace, and probably the official residence of the head of state, similar to the significance of the White House. The invitation was aimed at humiliating him and pressuring him into accepting Hitler’s demands, much like the situation faced by Zelensky and Ramaphosa. However, the meeting between Hitler and Hacha was to decide the fate of the former Czechoslovakia.

OVAL MEETING: US President Donald Trump and his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, meeting at the White House in Washington DC in a bid to resolve strained relations between the two nations. The author says Trump and his Vice President, JD Vance, lack mutual respect and mature diplomatic engagement. Photo: GCIS

The disrespectful nature of Hitler is illustrated by the diplomatic etiquette described by the European historian Ian Kershaw in his book “Working Towards the Führer: Reflections on the Nature of Hitler’s Dictatorship.” Kershaw recounts an incident where Hacha, the President of Czechoslovakia, was made to wait for hours to meet with the German Chancellor, who was reportedly watching films from 14 March 1939, at 10:00 AM until the early hours of 15 March 1939, at about 01:15 AM. A similar lack of decorum was evident when Trump made demeaning remarks about the dress code of the Ukrainian president and the theatrical playing of films or video clips about Julius Malema chanting during the South African delegation meeting.

Clearly, Trump and his deputy, Vance, have resorted to using coercive diplomatic tactics to achieve what they believe are the solutions for the roadmap to a peace deal with Russia and South Africa’s land expropriation without compensation, as well as fictitious false genocide claims against the white minority group. However, on all occasions, the US president and his deputy lack mutual respect and mature diplomatic engagement. Understanding that any peace deal must be voluntary and free from any form of coercion is crucial.

To illustrate this point, consider the case of Hacha, who was compelled to sign an agreement under severe pressure from Hitler. Significantly, Zelensky and Ramaphosa demonstrated integrity in stating that they would not be dictated to regarding the terms of deals that are clearly one-sided. South Africa is a sovereign nation, and its future cannot be determined by anyone outside its borders.

Overall, it is surprising to observe that world leaders are now being subjected to such a paternalistic, humiliating, and condescending nature of diplomatic engagements playing out in the open. This behaviour has a tendency to diminish the image and confidence of world leaders in the eyes of the people that they lead in their respective countries. Unlike Hacha, who felt embarrassment behind closed doors, Ramaphosa and Zelensky have experienced their humiliation openly, outside of the confines of international diplomatic etiquette. Ultimately, Trump and Vance have turned the Oval Office into a diplomatic slaughterhouse, and their conduct serves as a lesson for voters to refrain from casting their ballots for candidates unsuitable to lead powerful nations like the United States of America.