Trump cites Sweden, to the bafflement of Swedes
If you believe Swedish media, Friday night was relatively uneventful. Among the most noteworthy headlines were reports that a popular Swedish singer had technical problems during a musical competition.
But if you heard President Donald Trump on Saturday, something seemed to have happened in Sweden on Friday night that deserved the attention of the world. However, nobody in Sweden knew what that was.
During a rally Saturday, Trump referred to several countries that have taken in a disproportionate number of refugees and have recently been struck by attacks. “We’ve got to keep our country safe. You look at what’s happening in Germany. You look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this?” Trump went on to refer to Paris, Nice and Brussels — cities in other countries where attacks occurred in the past two years.
Although Trump did not explicitly say it, his remarks were widely perceived to suggest that an attack had occurred Friday night in Sweden. A spokeswoman for the Swedish Foreign Ministry told The Associated Press on Sunday that authorities were not aware of any “terrorlinked major incidents.”
On Sunday, Trump tweeted that he was referring to a story broadcast on Fox News concerning immigrants and Sweden. A segment aired Friday night on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” that reported Sweden had accepted more than 160,000 asylum-seekers last year but that only 500 had found jobs. The report went on to say that a surge in gun violence and rape had followed the influx of immigrants.
A White House spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said that Trump was talking about rising crime and recent incidents in general, not referring to a specific issue.
Sweden took in more refugees per capita than any other country in Europe at the height of the influx in 2015. The influx of refugees has not come without problems in Sweden, but mainstream politicians and immigration experts say criticism has been disproportionate.