Sweden asks the U.S. to explain Trump comment on Sweden

[webfact]

Trump baffles Sweden with crime comment, says it was based on TV report

By Anna Ringstrom and Jeff Mason

 

U.S. President Donald Trump cites a Friday night terror incident in Sweden during his rally in Florida, but there was no terror attack reported in the country. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

 

STOCKHOLM/WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - A day after falsely suggesting there was an immigration-related security incident in Sweden, President Donald Trump said on Sunday his comment was based on a television report he had seen.

 

Trump, who in his first weeks in office has tried to tighten U.S. borders sharply for national security reasons, told thousands of supporters at a rally on Saturday that Sweden was having serious problems with immigrants.

 

"You look at what's happening last night in Sweden," Trump said. "Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible."

 

No incident occurred in Sweden and the country's baffled government asked the U.S. State Department to explain what Trump meant.

"My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden," Trump said in a tweet on Sunday.

 

Fox News, a U.S. cable news channel that has sometimes been cited favourably by Trump, ran a report on Friday night about alleged migrant-related crime problems in the country.

 

A White House spokeswoman told reporters on Sunday that Trump had been referring generally to rising crime and not a specific incident in the Scandinavian country.

 

Sweden's crime rate has fallen since 2005, official statistics show, even as the country has taken in hundreds of thousands of immigrants from war-torn countries like Syria and Iraq.

 

Trump's comment confounded Sweden's government. "We are trying to get clarity," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Catarina Axelsson said.

 

The U.S. State Department said it did not comment on diplomatic communications.

 

Trump has been widely criticized for making assertions with little supporting evidence.

 

In recent months, he has argued that more than 3 million people voted fraudulently in the U.S. election, an assertion that election officials say is false, and incorrectly stated that he won the election by the most decisive margin in decades.

 

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom appeared to respond to Trump's statement about her country on Saturday by posting on Twitter an excerpt of a recent speech in which she said democracy and diplomacy "require us to respect science, facts and the media."

 

Her predecessor was less circumspect.

 

"Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound," former Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt wrote on Twitter.

Other Swedes mocked Trump's remark on Twitter using the hashtag #LastNightInSweden, posting pictures of reindeer, Swedish meatballs and people assembling the country's famous IKEA furniture.

 

"#lastnightinsweden my son dropped his hotdog in the campfire. So sad!" Twitter user Adam Bergsveen wrote.

 

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom in Stockholm, Andy Sullivan in Washington and Jeff Mason in Florida; Editing by Kieran Murray and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-02-20

[the guest]

As per usual the Swedes are in denial that their country is broken. The press seem to conveniently leave out the names of suspects of crimes. The Swedish Police admitted that they can no longer control law and order. The main problem areas are Malmo, and Angered where high concentrations of immigrants now live. 

[tx22cb]

Trump: "Don't blame me, someone told me about it.  Besides, Sweden is such a stupid nation - who the hell names their country after a lowly root vegetable?  Sweden is now so full of Muslims and other refugees that it should be renamed Turnipstan."

[Scott]

Off-topic posts and posts with links to threads already running have been removed.  

 

Please stay on topic.  

[craigt3365]

Why doesn't Trump get his facts from the US intelligence agencies?  Getting his facts from Fox News is just bizarre.

[Get Real]

In general the information of Sweden and that they take in to many people every year is correct. There is also right that there is a big problem because of that.
It has reached a size or enormuos proportions which they can´t handle. And the ship is sinking fast.

Edited February 20, 2017 by Get Real

[simple1]

1 hour ago, the guest said:

As per usual the Swedes are in denial that their country is broken. The press seem to conveniently leave out the names of suspects of crimes. The Swedish Police admitted that they can no longer control law and order. The main problem areas are Malmo, and Angered where high concentrations of immigrants now live. 

For a start the OP is in reference to a false claim by Trump of a terrorist attack in Sweden "last night". I understand the last terror attack in Sweden was 2010 with fortunately no injuries to the public. from the OP it now appears State is trying to wind back Trump's comment, but it is unfortunate that comments by the President of the USA have to be constantly massaged due to lack of clarity - really quite a dangerous phenomena.

 

Regarding the levels of criminality in Sweden. the OP claims crime rates are overall actually failing. More to the point, as other members have pointed out, the satisfaction for quality of life in Sweden is one of the highest in the world.

Edited February 20, 2017 by simple1

[Credo]

It is extremely dangerous when the President of the United States starts spreading mis-information.   There is a lot at stake, not to mention the credibility.    What if he decides to say something like N. Korea or Iran launched a bomb (instead of a missile test)?    What if he watches a movie and decides it's true?

 

I have no idea how the diplomats and embassies are going to deal with this nut case.   

[gummy]

well Trump is day dreaming again.  Nightly possibly wet dreams about his Russian apparent exploits.

 

What a disgrace to the American Nation he is turning out to be

[Bung]

I can't get a mental image of trump sitting alone in the Whitehouse alone at night eating a bowl of cheetos in his bathrobe absent mindedly watching fox news while checking his twitter feed on his phone,  hearing some reference to Sweden then announcing a terror attack as fact the next day.  Maybe an Ikea ad came on. 

 

He really is pretty dopey. 

[thai3]

There are Muslim attacks in Sweden every day, mostly on women

[DM07]

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[animalmagic]

Seems a tad strange that one who claims the press are public enemy number one, as far as he is concerned, should use an unsubstantiated press source to make his public announcements.

[mtls2005]

He learned of the "thing in Sweden" from his daily "intelligence" briefing (watching the TV), in this case from trusted adviser Tucker Carlson on Fox News.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2017 by mtls2005

[phantomfiddler]

I talk to Swedes every day, and they say that Donald tells the truth and that the Swedish government has it,s head where the sun never shines.

[thai3]

Time Sweden officially changed it's name to Swedistan, might calm the rioters down at least 

[mtls2005]

Hopefully the new Executive Order will ban Swedes.

 

Unless they're female, and "10's", of course.

[klauskunkel]

The President watched TV and then thought what he saw happened that night. So, is the President either dumb, or negligent for not verifying facts beforehand? Since these types of "mistakes" seem to continue to happen unabated, and I don't believe he is stupid, I now understand that he is catering to and manipulating the dumb majority of Americans and uses fear to push his agenda. Facts do not play a role, unless they support his plan

[Emster23]

Perhaps being delusional is under reported side effect of Viagra? Who needs all that intelligence infrastructure etc when you can just watch Fox? Please don't let him watch Dr. Strangelove!

[alanrchase]

There are Muslim attacks in Sweden every day, mostly on women

I would not be at all supprised if there was at least one attack per day on a woman by a non- Muslim man in Sweden. Same is probably true in most other countries. Daily reports of Thai men attacking women.

Sent from my SM-A500F using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[kmj]

I'm all for giving him a go at being President... but he's making it difficult by proving himself to be an arse.

[banglassie]

40 minutes ago, phantomfiddler said:

I talk to Swedes every day, and they say that Donald tells the truth and that the Swedish government has it,s head where the sun never shines.

and let me guess you live in Pattaya,,,,

[mtls2005]

OT, but at his rally his "hair" looked noticeable different; it goes more left to right now, while before it went more front to back. Can't tell if it's a new weave, or just a rearrangement.

 

It makes him look younger I think?

[asiamaster]

the word terrorist attack was not used by Trump

[mooseman]

After the terrible events #lastnightinSweden , IKEA have sold out of this:

 

 

[Familyaffairs]

Really, Fox a 'news channel' or propaganda outlet ? And cited favourably only sometimes, ? or is it a blatant love affair ? 

 

'Fox News, a U.S. cable news channel that has sometimes been cited favourably by Trump'

[mtls2005]

12 minutes ago, asiamaster said:

the word terrorist attack was not used by Trump

 

Correct. 

 

That is way too many syllables for him to use.

 

It was "dog-whistled", so I would bet most of the attendees left the rally thinking there was a terrorist incident in Sweden Friday night.

 

Ikeapocalypse.

 

Never remember.

 

Bowling Green stands with Sweden

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

Maybe my former home government should ask them selves why the world looks down on them now?

[whaleboneman]

1 hour ago, thai3 said:

There are Muslim attacks in Sweden every day, mostly on women

Source?  

[mooseman]

2 minutes ago, HiSoLowSoNoSo said:

Maybe my former home government should ask them selves why the world looks down on them now?

Who looks down on Sweden? Fake news you mean?