In-town pool report 8: Observations from Oval

I did not note the exact time we were ushered out of the Oval. My recording of the meeting which I stopped and started roughly at the beginning and end lasted 1 hour and 2 minutes.

Again, you should have been able to watch all the back-and-forth on the live stream if you wanted exact quotes. I tried to make note of things that perhaps you wouldn’t be able to see on the camera feed. Here they all are:

(If anyone was not able to catch the stream or feed in other capacities, let me know and I can endeavor quotes for you.)

When Trump mentioned the work his administration is doing and his hope it can resolve the situation in India and Pakistan, he looked toward Elon Musk, who nodded in response.

As the video was playing, for much of it, President Ramaphosa was looking elsewhere, as were two of his delegation members who were seated on the couch to his right. At one point he appeared to glance toward Musk, who was intently watching the video with the rest of the American side.

As the part played where Trump narrated that it was burial sites of “over 1,000 white farmers” and cars stopped to pay respects, President Ramaphosa and the delegation did look toward the video. One of the delegation members on the couch looked confused, furrowing his row.

“They told you where that is Mr President? I’d like to know where that is because this, I’ve never seen,” Ramaphosa said to Trump.

Trump said it was in South Africa and Ramaphosa responded perhaps a bit quietly, “we need to find out.”

As Trump was discussing the Qatari jet and Air Force One delays (and making several disparaging remarks about my TV pooling counterpart Peter Alexander), he gestured toward the center table in the Oval, where a model of Air Force One was displayed centrally.

When Trump cracked his joke about getting Musk into more trouble, everyone on the American side chuckled.

For much of the meeting, as delegation members from South Africa spoke, Trump was listening intently, looking toward them. The American folks in the room were doing the same, from what I could see, including Musk.

When Johann Rupert’s turn to speak came, he was looking directly at Elon Musk, making eye contact, when he said his country needs Starlink and drones. Musk nodded in response, and when Rubert made a joke about concerns the US was spying, he chuckled softly. Rupert directed several of his remarks directly at Musk as they made eye contact. He also looked directly at Vance for some of the conversation about their prior interactions.

When the president of the trade union spoke, she appeared to be directing many of her remarks at South African press who were holding up cameras and video recorders, and at one point looked toward Susie Wiles, who was seated in a chair directly across from Trump, holding a printed schedule of the meetings in her hands.

When Trump mentioned the G8 becoming the G7 because they kicked out Russia and said if they hadn’t done so, Russia probably wouldn’t be in the war with Ukraine, it sounded like Ramaphosa said very quietly: “It’s true”