Revealing their true colours

DONALD Trump is the epitome of the “Ugly American” so despised by Europeans – brash, boorish, ignorant and uncultured.

But Trump manages to take the time-honoured caricature several steps further. He is also a viciously unpleasant person, as he showed when he parodied a handicapped journalist at a news briefing and boasted openly and at length of how he used his position of power to sexually assault young women. He has shown no remorse for these actions nor made any attempt at an apology.

When it comes to racial minorities, specifically Muslims, Hispanics or AfricanAmericans, his prejudices are even more evident and his utterances more vocal and inflammatory.

“Mexicans are rapists and criminals”, he said, adding as an afterthought, “Some of them might be good people, I assume.”

Imagine a white politician in South Africa making such a wide-sweeping racist and xenophobic generalisation. As if these utterances were not enough, he has now endorsed the use of torture against terror suspects, something that even his right-wing Republican colleagues have refused to sanction.

This is nothing more than what we have come to expect from right-wing American politicians. What does shock and dismay me, is the fact that two prominent South Africans, Elon Musk (more accurately, a former South African) and Ernie Els, have openly endorsed this bigot.

In truth, this probably tells us more about Musk and Els than it does about Trump, because Trump has never been shy about showing his true colours, while entrepreneur Elon Musk and golfer Ernie Els are South African icons. Until now, they have represented the best of what South Africans are capable of, but now I’m not so sure.

The old saying holds true. “You are known by the company you keep.”