Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

Trump Cites Terror Attack in Sweden That Never Happened

President Trump spent part of the week-end in Florida surrounded by an adoring crowd. He spent part of his time talking to them about how bad it is to take in refugees. "We've got to keep our country safe. You look at what's happening in Germany. You look at what's happening last night [Friday, February 17, 2017] in Sweden," the president said on Saturday night. "Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible." What happened Friday did not include a terror attack, nor a rising crime rate. Mr. Trump appears to be making things up so he has something to say to his supporters.

On Sunday afternoon, the president tweeted his own clarification, "My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden." Sarah Sanders, the principal deputy press secretary for the White House, said he was "referring to a report he had seen the previous night. He was talking about rising crime and recent incidents in general, and not referring to a specific incident."

Perhaps, but statistics in Sweden show that the crime rate is flat to lower starting in 2005. The major influx of refugees started almost a decade later. So the addition of non-Swedes to the mix had no effect on the crime rate.

Sweden's responded as a rightfully confused nation should. The foreign ministry asked the US State department for clarification of the president's remarks. "We have asked the question today to the state department. We are trying to get clarity," said the Swedish foreign ministry spokeswoman Catarina Axelsson. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom tweeted out an except from a speech of hers that said,"Both functioning democracy and constructive cooperation between states require us to speak with, and not about, each other, to honour agreements and to allow ideas to compete. They also require us to respect science, facts and the media, and to acknowledge each other's wisdom."

The Swedish government has yet to grasp the best way to respond to Mr. Trump. It might want to take a page out of former prime minister Carl Bildt's book. He tweeted, "Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound."

Sweden's Twitter account is handled by a different citizen every week. Max Karlsson has it this week. His Twitter profile says he is "Passionate about creativity, commitment and curiousity. Likes facts. Huge nerd." He tweeted, "No. Nothing has happened here in Sweden. There has not ben any terrorist attacks here. At all. The main news right now is about Melfest." Melfest is the national song competition used to find the nation's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. Mr. Karlsson also noted "What Trump might be referring to is an interview done in Foxe News where a documentary film maker, Ami Horowitz, talks about Sweden and he to missunderstanding [sic] how things work here. So it's incorrect information on top of incorrect information. par for the course. Welcome to the fake news scrotus [so-called ruler of the United States] universe. It's... just so insane. And is giving me a headach [sic]. And a craving for chocolate."

The Swedish news outlet Aftonbladet posted Friday's news as, "Due to harsh weather in northern parts of Sweden the road E10 was closed between Katterjakk and Riksgransen" and "a man died in hospital, after an accident in the workplace earlier that day." It added, "OK let's not be fake news, this story took place in the autumn, but was reported Friday before lunchtime and we thought you would like it. A wooden moose got the attention of a lovesick moose bull."

It took less than a month to reduce the Trump administration to a punchline of a bad joke. On the positive side, there are only 47 more months of this to go -- presuming he isn't impeached or re-elected.

© Copyright 2017 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



Kensington Review Home