The message is unmistakable: there are no absolute guarantees and state sovereignty is conditional when it clashes with the interests of powerful states.
From a European perspective, the U.S. government's reasoning seems rather absurd. ..[o]rganizations like HateAid do not oppose free speech — they protect it.
Trump, grandson of a German immigrant, is particularly peeved at an independent South Africa, which was the worst example of a Western supremacist-cum-colonial mindset.
What perhaps remains unresolved, is how long the American electorate will allow Trump to reduce their country into a paranoia state, an empire of appalling tantrums and ragtag diplomacy.