JONNY STEINBERG: SA mired in the corrosive politics of disrespect
Jacob Zuma’s politics are also animated by the anger of those who feel they are owed more respect
An extraordinary exchange took place in the Oval Office earlier in 2019 between Donald Trump and AG Sultzberger, publisher of the New York Times. Sulzberger was sharing with Trump his worry about a global escalation in attacks on journalists; he wondered aloud whether Trump’s denunciation of the press as enemies had fuelled the violence. Trump responded politely at first, asking questions, his voice filled with concern. And then, apropos nothing, a complaint burst out from deep within him. He was a boy from Queens, he said. He had made it to the White House. It was an extraordinary story, perhaps the most extraordinary in American history. All he wanted, he said, was to see it told in his local newspaper, to have the daily journal he had grown up with share in his excitement. It was about a bald a statement of Trump’s motivations as we are likely to witness. I denounce you as an enemy, he was in essence saying, because you do not respect me enough. I look at myself through your eyes...
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