Alright, I looked it up.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/8/23/17772056/south-africa-trump-tweet-afriforum-white-farmers-violence
Half the article is spent explaining that it definitely isn't true. It doesn't leave open the possibility of it being true.
Then it says that Trump has agencies at his command that could give him accurate information on demand, to make informed decisions.
It combines those two things to argue that Trump must have immediately directed the secretary of state to look into it, and made a public announcement, without making sure it's true.
Only then, at the very end, does it use the two paragraphs you quoted to say that that course of action is bad in general.
Poor wording, definitely, but not nearly as objectionable in context. They didn't put this part at the start of the article either, so it's not the usual headline-style motte-bailey switcharoo.