Trump tries to clarify Swedish puzzle

SWEDEN: US President Donald Trump tried yesterday to explain what he meant by a comment about a non-existent incident in Sweden in a speech the day before that left the Scandinavian country baffled.

‘‘My statement as to what’s happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden,’’ he tweeted.

It was unclear exactly which story Trump was referring to, but Saturday’s edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight included an interview with documentary filmmaker Ami Horowitz about problems related to immigration in Sweden.

A number of Swedish officials have dismissed the documentary, which alleges the country has suffered from an explosion of violent crime after taking in hundreds of thousands of refugees over the past several years.

Magnus Ranstorp, a researcher specialising in terrorism with the Swedish Defence University, tweeted ‘‘it was FAKE NEWS’’ after looking at the Fox News clip.

‘‘You look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden,’’ Trump said in a speech to supporters on Sunday in Florida.

‘‘They took in large numbers. They’re having problems like they never thought possible,’’ he continued, implying the country had been the victim of a terrorist attack.

The school librarian curating Sweden’s Twitter account @sweden was flooded with queries about Trump’s remarks and wrote tweets in response confirming ‘‘nothing has happened’’.

She signed off on Sunday saying, ‘‘all is fine here,’’ and noted that the main news on Saturday night had been a Swedish qualification heat for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest.

Former Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt, currently attending the Munich Security Conference, also questioned the president’s remarks in a tweet.

‘‘Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound,’’ Bildt said.

Stockholm tabloid newspaper Aftonbladet’s wrote up a list of events that took place on Saturday, including a snowstorm that hit northern Sweden.

Swedish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Catarina Axelsson said the Swedish embassy in Washington had sought clarification about Trump’s comments.

‘‘We look forward to informing the US administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies,’’ the Swedish Embassy in the US added in a tweet yesterday.

Plenty of humorous responses were also posted on Twitter.

One user posted a photo of the 1970s pop group ABBA with the line, ‘‘Sweden has deployed their elite force of Super Troupers’’. Another referred to a cartoon figure holding a drill while assembling a piece of IKEA furniture as a ‘‘heavily-armed terrorist’’.

And a Swedish-language tweet on the Swedish Foreign Ministry’s Twitter account on Sunday noted that ‘‘post-truth’’ was listed as the Oxford English Dictionary’s international word of 2016.

The term describes emotional and personal beliefs that are more influential in shaping public opinion than facts. The term became common after the Brexit referendum in Britain and the divisive US presidential election.

– TNS