The Ambush Office: Trump's Oval becomes test of nerve for world leaders

US President Donald Trump shows pictures as he meets with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 21, 2025. [AFP] For world leaders an invitation to the Oval Office used to be a coveted prize. Under Donald Trump it's become a ticket to a brutal political ambush. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa became the latest victim in a long line that started with Trump's notorious row with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in February. Trump has turned what were staid diplomatic "photo sprays" under his predecessor Joe Biden into punishing, hour-long tests of nerve in the heart of the US presidency, played out on live television. The sight has become all too familiar -- a world leader perched nervously on the edge of their gold-upholstered chair in front of the famed fireplace, waiting to see what happens. Will the 78-year-old Republican lay on the charm? Will he show off the new gold-plated decor he has been proudly installing in the Oval? Will he challenge his guest on tariffs or trade or US military assistance? Or will he simply tear into them? Nobody knows before they get there. All they know is that when the cameras are allowed into the most exclusive room in the White House, they will be treading the most perilous of political tightropes. And the hot, confined space of the Oval Office adds to the pressure-cooker environment as the unpredictable billionaire seeks to wrongfoot his guests and gain the upper hand. 'Turn the lights down' Trump set the benchmark when he hosted Zelensky on February 28. Tensions over Trump's sudden pivot towards Russia spilled into the open as a red-faced US president berated the Ukrainian leader and accused him of being ungrateful for US military aid against Russia. Many wondered if it was a deliberate ambush -- especially as Vice President JD Vance appeared to step in to trigger the row. Whether or not it was on purpose, the goal in foreign capitals ever since has been to "avoid a Zelensky." But Ramaphosa's visit to the Oval on Wednesday was the closest yet to a repeat -- and this time it was clearly planned. Ramaphosa arrived with top South African golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen in tow, hoping to take the edge off the golf-mad Trump's unfounded claims of a "genocide" against white South African farmers. But his face was a picture of bemusement when after a question on the issue, Trump suddenly said to aides and said: "Turn the lights down, and just put this on." A video of South African politicians chanting "kill the farmer" began to play on a screen set up at the side of the room. A stunned Ramaphosa looked at the screen, then at Trump, and then back at the screen. Yet unlike Zelensky, who argued back with an increasingly enraged Trump, the South African president largely stayed calm as he argued his case. Nor was he asked to leave the White House as Zelensky was, causing the Ukrainian to miss lunch. 'Ratings GOLD!' Other leaders have also done their homework. Some have emerged mostly unscathed, or even with some credit. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, despite some nervous body language, stood his ground against Trump's calls for his country to become the 51st US state and insisted that his country was "never for sale." British Prime Minister Keir Starmer won over Trump with a letter from King Charles III, while French President Emmanuel Macron kept up his touch-feely bromance with the US president. Trump's ideological allies have often fared even better. El Salvador's Nayib Bukele had a major Oval Office love-fest after agreeing to take migrants at a mega-prison in the Central American country. But even some close allies have been wrongfooted. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a warm welcome as the first foreign guest of Trump's second term, but it was a different story when he returned in April. Cameras in the Oval Office caught his stunned face when Trump announced that Washington was starting direct talks with Iran. For Trump, though, it's all part of a presidency that he increasingly treats like a reality show. Trump himself quipped after the Zelensky meeting that it was "going to be great television", and one of his advisers was just as explicit after the Ramaphosa meeting. "This is literally being watched globally right now," Jason Miller said on X, along with a picture of the encounter on multiple screens. "Ratings GOLD!"

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