Key Trump ally heading to Pretoria

The United States Senate has confirmed that conservative activist and critic Leo Bozell will be the United States’ next ambassador to South Africa.

Bozell will now fill the vacancy left by Reuben Brigety, who resigned in January ahead of Trump taking office.

The new appointee was first nominated by Trump back in March, a decision which the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the full Senate have since approved.

Last week, the US Senate voted 52–47 in favour of several nominations made by Trump, including Bozell and former Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce to be deputy ambassador to the United Nations.

The vote was along party lines, with all of Trump’s fellow Republicans, apart from Senator Steve Daines of Montana, voting in favour and every Democrat opposed.

In a speech before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in October, Bozell said that if his position as ambassador was confirmed, his priorities would be:

Diplomatic and Strategic Goals

• Address South Africa’s perceived alignment with Russia, China, and Iran.
• Urge South Africa to end proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice and encourage the ICC to halt related cases.

Domestic and Human Rights Goals

• Advocate for the protection of private property rights.
• Support Afrikaners wishing to leave due to perceived “racial discrimination”.
• Promote safety and stability.

Economic and Trade Goals

• Encourage fair trade practices and reduced barriers for US businesses.
• Strengthen economic ties to support growth and prosperity in both countries.

South Africa and the US have seen tensions escalate since Trump returned to office earlier this year.

The South African government has consistently denied accusations from the US, including the administration pushing the notion of a genocide against the Afrikaans population.

The most recent fallout between the two nations came following the G20 summit held in Johannesburg.

After South Africa had handed over the G20 presidency to the United States, Trump announced that South Africa would not be receiving an invitation to next year’s summit and would be replaced by Poland.

In response, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that South Africa would “take a commercial break” from the G20 while US President Donald Trump leads the forum.

Who is Leo Bozell?

Bozell, from Virginia, holds a BA in history from the University of Dallas and has been actively involved in conservative politics for many years.

He comes from a family of public servants: his parents, L. Brent Bozell Jr and Patricia Buckley Bozell, were conservative activists and writers, and his uncle, William F. Buckley Jr, was a leader of the modern conservative movement.

Another uncle, James L. Buckley, served as a US senator, a federal judge, and as under secretary of state.

Bozell began his career at the now-defunct National Conservative Political Action Committee, where he worked with founder Terry Dolan to support conservative candidates.

He later led several political organisations, including the National Conservative Foundation project at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

A staunch media critic, Bozell founded the Media Research Centre, an agency that critiques perceived liberal media bias, which led to projects such as CNSNews.com.

He has also written numerous books, including Unmasked: Big Media’s War on Trump.

Despite his partisan work, Bozell has participated in bipartisan initiatives, such as monitoring elections in Nicaragua and Guatemala.

His son was among the pro-Trump crowds who stormed the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

He was convicted and sentenced to 45 months in prison, but was freed in January in Trump’s mass pardon of participants in the attack.