Efforts to discredit President Donald Trump’s claims of genocide in South Africa found “60 Minutes” dispatching Anderson Cooper to conduct a “typical … misleading slant.”
Throughout 2025, the president once again exposed the biases of the bleeding hearts on the left as they found cause to bristle at his championing the cause of South African refugees. The prioritization of Afrikaners, white descendants of mostly Dutch settlers in the majority black country, found the anchor conducting interviews abroad that couldn’t avoid talking about the extensive violence and killing.
“We came to Darrel Brown’s farm because of what President Trump said last May about the murders of South African farmers,” said Cooper of his trip to the seventh-generation rancher’s property in a segment that aired on the latest installment of the CBS News program, followed by audio of the president.
In May, Pres. Trump said “over a thousand” White farmers have been murdered in South Africa. He showed a video of what he said were crosses marking their burial sites. But when 60 Minutes traveled to the site, the crosses were gone. Anderson Cooper tracked down the farmer who… pic.twitter.com/ZAxZMamss0
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) February 23, 2026
“It’s a genocide that’s taking place that you people don’t want to write about,” said Trump, “but it’s a terrible thing that’s taking place, and farmers are being killed. They happen to be white.”
That same month, as Trump hosted South African president Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House, he surprised the visiting dignitary by running a video in the Oval Office depicting people discussing killing white people, including chants of “kill the Boer, kill the farmer.”
INSIDER: Trumps publicly spanks South African leader over white genocide, media cries ‘ambush’ https://t.co/pKv1oJbAsv
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) May 22, 2025
To the commander-in-chief’s point about corporate media avoiding the issue, it was reported that CNN, Cooper’s other employer, had cut away from live coverage of the meeting, describing it as a “well-orchestrated effort,” meant to “ambush” Ramaphosa. Only after the video concluded did CNN return to the live coverage to capture the visiting dignitary’s denial of genocide.
During the interview with Brown, white crosses presented in the video that were said to have been burial sites, according to the White House, were discussed.
“It definitely wasn’t a burial site,” said the rancher. “I mean, those crosses were there for less than 48 hours. It was purely an avenue of crosses we planted there in honor of commercial farmers in South Africa that had lost their lives.”
As Cooper’s narration downplayed the crosses, it simultaneously reinforced the point about the violence in South Africa. “Brown knows about the crosses because he put them there on the day of his friends, Glen and Vida Rafferty’s, funeral. He keeps them locked in a shed. In 2024, he brought them out again for the funeral of his best friend, Tollie Nel, who was also murdered on his farm.”
“Tollie’s wife, Rene, still lives there. Her husband was killed in front of her trying to fight off burglars. Her son, Theunis, was tied up while they stole cash and guns. No one has been arrested,” he went before it was revealed the family added cameras, electric fences, and private security guards as the son now keeps a gun on him as often as possible, “The only time I don’t have it on me is when, is when I’m in the shower.”
The widow Nel went on to refute the president’s use of the word “genocide” based on what she knows it to mean. “I see our attack as an opportunistic attack. They knew there was money. They knew there were firearms.”
Similarly, statistics were employed to highlight that the roughly 7% of the population that owns about 72% of farmland, the Afrikaners, relied on employing black South Africans to work the land, suggesting this too made the issue less one of genocide and more simply crime.
“South Africa is one of the most dangerous countries in the world. The murder rate is seven times that of the United States, and the majority of victims and perpetrators are black,” detailed the report. “According to police, more than 25,000 people were murdered here in 2024. It’s estimated 37 of them were killed on farms.”
It was also reported that the race of murder victims was only included in published data beginning in 2025.
Much later in the segment, Cooper, who didn’t renew his contract with “60 Minutes,” interviewed Afrikaner rights group AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel, whom he asked, “Are white farmers being killed for their land?”
“Yes. I believe so,” said Kriel, who added on the matter of genocide, “We’ve never used the term white genocide. We’re saying there are tortures. People are being murdered. We are seeing a call for genocide.”
South Africa native Elon Musk reacted to the report from “60 Minutes,” “It’s much worse than people in America realize,” and also reposted commentary from Blake Neff, producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” who said, “This video is incredible. 60 Minutes goes to South Africa, clearly looking to debunk narratives about white farmers being targeted and killed with impunity, talk to farmers who have countless stories of their family and friends being tortured and killed with no arrests. Would this story even have aired before the Weiss era?”
It’s much worse than people in America realize
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 23, 2026
This video is incredible. 60 Minutes goes to South Africa, clearly looking to debunk narratives about white farmers being targeted and killed with impunity, talk to farmers who have countless stories of their family and friends being tortured and killed with no arrests.
Would… https://t.co/9UDYCDefwD
— Blake Neff (@BlakeSNeff) February 23, 2026
No one thought there were actual bodies buried there, just that they represented the murdered. Which is correct. Typical media with the misleading slant
— Bateman (@GoingConcerned) February 23, 2026
This is weird. It’s as if 60 Minutes was certain white farmers being killed was untrue. So they spent the time and money sending Anderson Cooper to South Africa. Then realized Trump was right but were forced to air the piece because they had invested too much at that point.
— Brian (@BriGuySense) February 23, 2026
lol. I’m confused because you just confirmed trumps claims. Thanks I guess!
— Dubya (@xDubyaaa) February 23, 2026
We’re going to rest the whole fact checking process on a Trump misspeak? “No white farmers have ever been killed because Trump said those were burial sites.” This is why nobody likes the media.
— Forward Human (@forward_human) February 23, 2026
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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