Trump’s SA ambassador flies Israel flag high

Leo Brent Bozell III, nominated by United States (US) President Donald Trump as the next US Ambassador to South Africa, is a good friend of Israel and undoubtedly a strong supporter of his own president’s policies.

The nomination this week was a surprising twist of events, not least of all because of the deteriorating relationship between South Africa and the US. It was published on the US Congress’s official website on 25 March. If it is approved by the US Senate, Bozell will soon be heading to Pretoria.

Bozell’s views on Israel are so open that the photograph on his X account is of the Israeli and US flags flying, and his portrait photo has a large Star of David superimposed on it.

Bozell’s support for Israel has played out in “actions such as fundraising for Israel after 7 October, critiquing anti-Israel media narratives, and aligning with Trump’s pro-Israel administration”, says Dr Scott Firsing, a Trump supporter with a doctorate in US-South Africa relations.

As for his support for his president, there’s no doubt about that either. Dr Matthew Dallek, historian and professor of political management at George Washington University, told the SA Jewish Report from the US, “Brent Bozell will bring an iron-clad loyalty to Donald Trump to the ambassador role. That means that he will likely continue to attack South Africa for allegedly being ‘hostile’ to white people, for being an allegedly ‘failed country’, and for being far to the left and something of a new foe to the US.”

Terence Corrigan, project manager at the South African Institute of Race Relations, who comments widely on US-South Africa relations, says Bozell has been a fixture in conservative circles in America for decades.

“He has no background in diplomacy, and has actually had a chequered and somewhat conflicted relationship with Trump. I think it’s fair to say that his appointment is a consciously political one, which matches the tenor of the US-South Africa relationship, and arguably that of the Trump incumbency more broadly. I suspect that’s really what this is about: he will be on a defined political script, the outlines of which we’ve seen in recent weeks.”

Bozell is the founder of the Media Research Center, an organisation whose purpose is to identify “liberal-media bias”. In January, he was appointed by Trump to lead the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), an independent agency of the US government that broadcasts news and information, considered an arm of US diplomacy. Soon after the nomination announcement, Bozell withdrew from that appointment, making it even more likely he will take up the ambassadorship.

Bozell’s approach to US politics can possibly best be summed up in the fact that he is proud that his son, Leo Brent Bozell IV, was a 6 January 2021 insurrectionist who was convicted of 10 charges and sentenced to 45 months in federal prison.

When Trump pardoned him in January, Bozell wrote on Facebook, “My son and six of his J6 [January 6th] buddies [were] released from captivity last night. He is home with his wife and three girls this morning. Thank you, Mr President.”

The nomination is viewed by many as unusual because South African-born political commentator Joel Pollak had long been expected to be the nominee. Whether Bozell’s appointment will be accepted by South Africa is another question, especially considering the US’s recent expulsion of South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, in which Pollak played a role.

“Bozell’s selection should be seen in the context of expelling South Africa’s ambassador to the US for criticising Trump,” says Dallek. “Bozell is a brash MAGA [Make America Great Again] warrior, and Trump’s nomination is akin to a thumb in the eye for South Africa. It’s hard to see how Bozell is going to repair relations with South Africa. It’s more likely the relations under Trump and his new ambassador nominee will grow even more hostile.”

Corrigan says he believes that after Rasool was expelled, Pollak may have become “unviable” as a nominee. “He had been extremely outspoken on South African matters, and I could imagine the South African government using this as a reason to refuse to accept him. Perhaps sending someone who is unconnected with South Africa and relatively unknown by it signals that there is a possibility for a reset and a ‘deal’.”

Dr Martha Bridgman, editor of the South African Journal of International Affairs, agrees that “with the recent diplomatic spat over Rasool, the US administration may have reconsidered Pollak as too risky. He has political links in South Africa, and perhaps there were just too many confounding factors to get through Congress, never mind the South African diplomatic process.”

Corrigan says he assumes that Bozell is very pro-Israel. In addition, he is “representing a country and a government that is fulsomely behind Israel, and if accepted in South Africa, he will be representing that point of view to a government that is implacably hostile to it. So, expect this to be a point of friction.”

Will he be accepted? “I don’t see why not, on his merits,” says Corrigan. “The significance isn’t who the ambassador is, but that South Africa will get one. My fear was that Trump wouldn’t bother filling the office, consigning the relationship to a semi-permanent freeze. That said, I don’t think that friendly relations between the US and South Africa are on the table for the foreseeable future. It’s a combination of geopolitical differences, ideology ,and raw incompetence – we just don’t have the diplomatic corps that we need to manage these complexities.”

But John Stremlau, honorary professor in international relations at the University of the Witwatersrand, thinks that while South Africa will probably accept Bozell, it shouldn’t be in a rush to appoint a successor to Rasool as a way of taking a stand against Trump. In addition, he thinks South Africa shouldn’t “have a divisive fight over who should be Rasool’s successor”, as this could affect the stability of the Government of National Unity. He thinks that South Africa should rather watch and wait, seeing how things unfold before sending a new ambassador to the US.

However, Corrigan notes that “South Africa has taken a de facto anti-American stance, without the diplomatic skills to manage the stresses. I hope that it’s possible to get some sort of dialogue going; state to state is important, though given the shopworn condition of South Africa, I think it’s also important for interest groups like business and civil society to build bridges of their own. I’m especially concerned about the commercial relationship, which is extremely important to South Africa as a whole, and not unimportant to the US. Ironically, if that suffers, so too will those who are most positively inclined towards the US.”

“Trump has significantly leaned on close family associates, friends, and media pundits for high-profile ambassadorial roles,” says Firsing. “Bozell fits into this group. He was already scheduled to work closely with individuals like Secretary of State Marco Rubio when he was nominated to lead the USAGM.”

While Pollak chose not to comment further at this stage, he referred the SA Jewish Report to his recent tweet, where he said, “I guarantee that anyone whom President Trump nominates will follow Trump‘s policies. There’s no sense in holding out for someone more pliable, or a return to the policy status quo ante. Trump won. You’ll get Trump’s ambassador.”