What is the Golden Dome for America?

What is Donald Trump's "Golden Dome" missile defense project, and why did South Africa's president bring golf professionals and a billionaire to his Oval Office meeting today? We're breaking down both topics in under 10 minutes!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome
• 0:26 What is the Golden Dome for America?
• 1:52 South Africa's chilly welcome in DC
• 2:43 Is there a genocide in South Africa?
• 5:41 Until next time!

Transcript

Welcome to The Friday Brief, a news podcast by Girl Friday. I’m Phoenix Ricks, the CEO of Girl Friday and your host. This is your brief for May 21, 2025. On LinkedIn, I share news that Girl Friday’s clients are interested in because the policies or initiatives may have an impact on their business. I knew that including the latest news about the U.S. Golden Dome would lead to questions today. With so much in the news, you may have missed this one, but it's important, and we must talk about it. 

So, what is the "Golden Dome for America"? CBS News says it is Donald Trump's missile defense project. The stated goal is to protect the United States from foreign threats. China isn’t too happy about this dome proposal, because they say it will militarize space and increase the global arms race. We don’t have too many details about how this would work, but we do know it would be significantly larger than the Iron Dome in Israel, just given the size of the United States and the fact that we have states and territories outside of the mainland. CBS reported that it would be built in (at minimum, I'm assuming) Florida, Georgia, Indiana, and Alaska. Numerous American defense and technology companies would be involved, though they have not yet been named. Trump said his administration has "selected an architecture" for the "state-of-the-art system.” This would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, and mark the first time that U.S. weapons would be in space. Trump also said that "The Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world and even if they are launched from space." He wants this up and running before his term ends. 

In other news from the Oval Office, we had another round of the Trump administration hosting foreign leaders for choreographed take downs. The BBC’s report on today’s meeting with President Ramaphosa of South Africa was perfection. The South African leader clearly saw the Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy and thought twice about only arriving with political officials as backup, which is typical and expected for these high-level diplomatic engagements in front of the press. But no, he arrived with golf pros and a billionaire, as a Game of Thrones offering to the Iron Throne. It worked, only somewhat, as Trump did seem to listen to the billionaire. Also present was another South African billionaire, Elon Musk, who, the BBC noted, “watched quietly from behind a couch.” 

The topic of the white South African “refugees” surfaced, and Trump showed a video as some kind of proof that there are mass crimes against white farmers in South Africa. The video shows aerial footage over a long road with small white crosses on either side. I’ve seen that video making the rounds on extremely far-right social media accounts for probably a few weeks. I’ve never seen any information about where it was taken or who the crosses might be honoring. Oddly, South Africa’s president said he hadn’t seen it before, so perhaps it is being shared more frequently in the United States. Well, CNN stepped in to fact-check today and addressed the crosses. 

CNN reported  that “Trump wrongly identified these as 'burial sites' – evoking the image of a mass grave – rather than symbols." Claims of ethnic cleansing and genocide should be taken seriously. So, when you hear these claims about a genocide in South Africa, there are a few key things to remember and listen out for in news reports. Let’s start with the definition. According to the United Nations, genocide requires actions and intent, like committing murder and intending to destroy, in whole or in part, national, ethnic, racial, or religious groups. The next thing to investigate is data. The claim that South Africans are committing genocide against white farmers has never been validated with any data. And as a sidenote, CNN says South Africa’s agricultural minister, who oversees farming and would presumably be aware of mass crimes against farmers, happens to be white. 

But let's get back to the data. Here’s what CNN found. From April 2024 to December 2024, there were 19,696 murders in the country overall. I had to triple-check that number because I knew the murder rate in South Africa was high, but this was shocking. However, within the timeframe CNN assessed, only 36 of those cases had a victim linked to farms or agricultural holdings. That’s .2% of all murders during that timeframe. Breaking it down further, only seven of those 36 victims were farmers. The allegation is that there's a genocide against specifically white farmers. It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway, you have to remember that South Africa obviously has Black farmers, too. We don’t know the race of those seven victims from the data. The other 29 victims within the 36 included farm employees. CNN says they tend to be Black. So, again, this data is nowhere close to what you see in data for ethnic cleansings, genocides, or even just smaller-scale targeted murders. CNN’s article fact-checking these serious claims of genocide in South Africa is worth a read. It is titled “Fact check: Trump’s false suggestion of a ‘genocide’ against White farmers in South Africa.” 

Thank you for listening to The Friday Brief. Make sure you and your friends don’t miss an episode! Check out thefridaybrief.com, and follow The Friday Brief on Instagram and TikTok. Until next time, I’m Phoenix Ricks signing off from Washington, DC. Let’s work together for a world of good.