In Africa, Donald Trump is believed to have said that Africans are lazy, that African immigrants in the United States should be deported, and that Africa as a continent should be recolonized. With Trump’s presidential win, these comments, allegedly made over the past two years, have begun to circulate again.
Turns out, most of them are fake, having originated on satirical news sites. Trump did not call all Kenyans “conmen” or say that he would “lock up” longtime leaders Robert Mugabe and Yoweri Museveni. So far, the president-elect has not tried to dispute these false stories. Trump’s media office did not 
respond to a request for comment.
These stories are readily believed in many African countries in part because they aren’t that far off from comments Trump has made about Muslims, Mexicans, and immigrants in general.
So what has Trump said about Africans and Africa? Trump allegedly described laziness as a “trait in blacks,” according to a 1991 book by a former employee of Trump’s, John O’Donnell. Trump has denied that he ever made the comment.While Trump has said very little about Africa, he did launch his political campaign by claiming the United States president Barrack Obama was born in Kenya.
Just two days before the elections, Trump went to Minnesota and blamed faulty refugee vetting processes for allowing large numbers of Somalis to come to the state. At a rally in Maine back in August, Trump also singled out the immigrant Somali community in the US, saying they were coming from “dangerous territories,” and fraying social safety nets.
He has criticized US aid programs to the continent, describing a $7 billion aid program to help African countries gain better access to electricity, as a “waste.” He’s also said that he sees “tremendous potential” in Africa.
Trump’s appointment of former Brietbart News president Steve Bannon as White House chief strategist also offers little hope of a nuanced view of the continent. In a September article, the far-right news site described the militant group Boko Haram, which operates in Nigeria and the Lake Chad region in western Africa, as keeping “East Africa under a spell of devastation.”
Source:quartz.com
