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Trump says remark about Sweden referred to something on TV

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  • ASSOCIATED PRESS

    President Donald Trump smiles as he prepares to speak at his “Make America Great Again Rally” at Orlando-Melbourne International Airport in Melbourne, Fla.

HELSINKI >> Swedes have been scratching their heads and ridiculing President Donald Trump’s remarks that suggested a major incident had happened in the Scandinavian country. The American president now says he was referring to something he saw on television.

During a rally in Florida on Saturday, Trump said “look what’s happening last night in Sweden” as he alluded to past terror attacks in Europe. It wasn’t clear what he was referring to and there were no high-profile situations reported in Sweden on Friday night.

The comment prompted a barrage of social media reaction on Sunday, with hundreds of tweets, and a local newspaper published a list of events that happened on Friday that appeared to have no connections to any terror-like activity.

On Sunday, Trump took to Twitter to explain: “My statement as to what’s happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden.” A White House spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, says that Trump was talking about rising crime and recent incidents in general, not referring to a specific issue.

The president may be referring to a segment aired Friday night on the Fox News Channel show “Tucker Carlson Tonight” that reported Sweden had accepted more than 160,000 asylum-seekers last year but that only 500 of the migrants had found jobs in Sweden. The report, which was illustrated with video of broken windows and fires, went on to say that a surge in gun violence and rape had followed the influx of immigrants.

Reacting to Trump’s original remarks, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Catarina Axelsson said that the government wasn’t aware of any “terror-linked major incidents.” Sweden’s Security Police said it had no reason to change the terror threat level.

“Nothing has occurred which would cause us to raise that level,” agency spokesman Karl Melin said.

Former Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted , “Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound.”

Addressing Trump in an article on Sunday, the Aftonbladet tabloid wrote, “This happened in Sweden Friday night, Mr President,” and then listed in English some events that included a man being treated for severe burns, an avalanche warning and police chasing a drunken driver.

One Twitter user said, “After the terrible events #lastnightinSweden, IKEA have sold out of this” and posted a mock Ikea instruction manual on how to build a “Border Wall.”

Sweden, which has a long reputation for welcoming refugees and migrants, had a record 163,000 asylum applications in 2015. The country has since cut back on the number it annually accepts.

Its most recent attack linked to extremism happened in the capital, Stockholm, in December 2010. An Iraqi-born Swede detonated two explosive devices, including one that killed him but no one else.

In the month he has been president, Trump’s remarks and those of his staff have fueled numerous news media “fact checks” pointing out inaccuracies and falsehoods. On the subject of terrorism, Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway referred to a “Bowling Green Massacre” that never occurred.

Former foreign minister Bildt told Swedish Radio after his initial confounded tweet Sunday that he sees danger in how Trump relates to facts.

“If we are in a situation where there is tension in the world, we stand between war and peace,” he said. “If we then have a president who spreads lots of false rumors, it can be truly dangerous.”

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    • Stay classy, liberals. The people elected a different kind of President because they like that he doesn’t speak from prepared statements and teleprompters, and it will lead to some faux pas. It makes some people’s head explode because they think a President should be immaculate.

      I didn’t vote for Trump but I laugh at the liberal reactions.

        • You are correct. It is not a LIFE when you justify an outright lie because you force yourself to believe its true. Secondly the Chump is the POTUS so he needs to engage his brain clutch before speaks. His behavior has become a major embarrassment for most Americans.

        • HiLIARy lied and four men died. That was a lie. And you losers quibble about every word our new President says. Very sad.

        • Sure, Nomu.

          The dissemination of false information and pulled-from-the-ether factoids to the entire world by the POTUS is so much more forgivable when he simply doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

          If you’re going to shoot yourself in the foot, the idea that you weren’t aiming at it should make all the difference in the world.

        • Face the facts corporal. If the idi-t didn’t say stooppid things we wouldn’t have anything to quibble about. He provides all of us false commenters with 100% of our quibble material.

        • So Chump said look what happened LAST NIGHT in Sweden, in other words an event. The Fox News story was not about a singular event. Doesn’t add up. Either he was confused about what the Fox news Story was about, or he maed it up. The problem for the administration is credibility. Kellyanne talked about a nonexisting “Bowling Green Massacre” on several occasions. Sean talked about a terror incident in Atlanta that was not the Olympic Park Bombing done by a whote dude, and now the President himself talk about an incident that never happened. If you give these guys the benefit of the doubt, they are just being sloppy with their wording, at worst its the amateur hour with members of the administration putting out lies and not thinking anyone will fact check. Either way not good, Good thing Fox News didn’t talk about a North Korean missile test and the assignation they pulled of in Malaysia, who knows how Trump would have reacted.

        • Well first it’s Fox News what do you expect. Second it comes out of Trump’s mouth, no back up facts and this guy makes things up as he goes along. His voters probably are the same and say what they think instead of getting the facts. And that’s why they voted for this imbec@@e, same level. They must be proud.

        • sarge22 – What lie did Mrs. Clinton allegedly tell that resulted in the death of four men?

          Take your time. You won’t be able to answer, because it didn’t happen.

        • Four men died and HiLIARy lied.This should work,,,”On September 11, 2012, radical Islamic terrorists attacked the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, and a nearby CIA annex, killing four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.
          Unwilling to admit a counterterrorism failure weeks before a presidential election, Hillary Clinton led the charge to cover up the cause of the attack, being the first high-ranking administration official to publicly blame it on a YouTube video.
          While Clinton publicly blamed the video, she told her daughter Chelsea, as well as the Egyptian Prime Minister, that it was a planned terrorist attack which “had nothing to do with the film.”
          Days later, Clinton told the victims’ families that the video was to blame at a ceremony where their bodies returned home in flag-draped coffins.
          Recently, Clinton has said she never made these claims to the families, drawing sharp and public rebukes from several family members.”

        • IRT klastri: Did you ask what lie was told BEFORE or after the attack…What causes a death would lead me to believe you meant it would have happened before and not after the attack…Looks like someone clipped and pasted something that doesn’t answer your question BUT you should be used to it by now, they never do…#MAGA

        • Well, as nomu stated above, he didn’t lie. He just heard something on TV, misunderstood what it was about and proceeded to broadcast a load of easily verified false factoids to whole world.

          But, he didn’t lie.

          The lying may come afterward, when – ignoring the fact that mics and cameras were recording the whole time – the administration denies having said or at least meaning what was said. To paraphrase: playback is a beyotch.

      • namu – I see. So you think it’s appropriate for the President of the United States to lie constantly about incidents that never happened? He’s mentally ill – obviously. He is unable to govern and is unable to tell the truth about anything.

        Trump is obviously a psychotic. Our allies know that already. Trump supporters are the clueless ones who still don’t get it.

        • It wasn’t a lie. He saw a news report, got the wrong idea, and speaked honestly what he thought about it in public.

          You are just a hater if you think that is psychotic.

        • nomu – He “speaked honestly”?

          That explains why you’re giving him a pass.

          Trump is a psychotic. I’m not a “hater” (whatever that means in your mind) I have common sense.

        • Trump is having a ball and the crying losers just keep chirping. He is cutting out the middleman so the people can hear him directly. Good or bad you know what he says. Let’s hear from Jake the Fake on CNN and Madcow on MSNBC. Are they still on the air? Losers

        • Klastri – now you’re a psychologist as well as lawyer. Do you have an engineering degree as well?

        • Freedom – Anyone, at this point, should be able to recognize that something is terribly wrong with the way Mr. Trump processes information and behaves. Anyone.

          Psychiatrists are openly now, in print, questioning his sanity.

        • Stop with the medical diagnosis. You’re not a doctor. I hope this doesn’t continue while the President is in office.

        • Klastri> Still playing the “psycho card?” Still trying to be something that you’re not? Keep it up with the VFN and lies. You are not gaining any ground at all. In fact the way all of the dems, lefties and MSM jumped on this, I bet the POTUS is having himself a good laugh. As far as what I heard about a week ago was that the Swedes were having big time problems with your muslim buddies raping their women and doing criminal things. They don’t follow the host country’s laws and follow their own murderous doctrines. Give it up, get your teddy bear, go sit in a corner and go suck on your thumb!

  • And Keonigohan, Sarge22 and Moilee and trumpsters all believed Trump that some terrorist attack really happened in Sweden. Whatever Trump says must be true and the others must be “fake news”

    • I have a relative who lives in Stockholm, and he says several areas where The Muslim immigrants are housed tuned bad where he would not want to live – just like in US where certain minorities live. Many Swedes are mad about their open borders – they have already 15% Muslim and Third world immigrants many on welfare and do not integrate. One prediction says Sweden will become a Third world country by 2030.

      • “Certain minorities?”

        I see that you’ve stopped masking your loathsome racism. You used to beat around the bush just a bit, but no more.

        Sweden a “third world country?” Please.

        • IRT Klastri, we can begin a discussion on “certain minorities.” “Certain minorities” are immigrants, legal and illegal, who refuse to conform to the language, customs, laws and constitution of their “new” Country. “Certain minorities” objective is to establish their home beliefs in the new Country. President Trump was accurate about Sweden and its “Open Border” policy.

    • @ koae
      Why are you lying about me saying anything on this article? You are the prime example of VERY FAKEnews!
      Your tone is so very hateful, typical of a extreme left idiot…SAD.

    • @ koae
      Why are you lying about me saying anything on this article? You are the prime example of VERY FAKEnews!
      Your tone is so very h@teful, typical of a extreme left idi0t…SAD.

  • TRUMPettes: The media lies! They are LIARS! All of them! All the news are lies! We only read the news because we want to see all the lies that the news spew out! Move along! There is nothing here to look at! Our Dear President Trumpf has never lied and will never lie like that HilLIARy! Heil Trumpf! #MEGAlomania

  • Trump continues his bizarre descent into madness. Now he’s making up international incidents to scare his cowardly supporters and to make them ever more fearful. It’s pathetic.

    All of us need to be thankful that we have the Constitution.

    • klastri> What have you done in your life that makes you such a brave hero??? How can you call those that oppose your opinions cowards that are afraid of muslim women and children? Are you that lolo, that you don’t know that the terrorist use women and children to blown themselves up and kill innocent people???? Why, you so lolo???

  • Sweden’s rape and violence numbers have escalated since they let refugees from the Middle East pour into their country with very little vetting. Pres Trump is trying to make a point that he does not want that to happen in the US. Maybe a mistweet but I saw that Fox report and what is happening in Sweden is horrible.

    • Right. Of course. That’s what he actually meant to say, but didn’t say? And that all happened the night before? Got it!

      Too bad that you couldn’t whisper in his ear to give him the right words in the right order. There’s an idea!

      Exactly! Makes perfect sense!

    • WRONG!!!!!

      Official statistics show Sweden’s crime rate has fallen since 2005, even as it has taken in hundreds of thousands of immigrants from war-torn countries like Syria and Iraq.
      Sweden’s embassy in the US repeated Mr Trump’s tweet about having seen the Fox report, and added: “We look forward to informing the US administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies”.

      • Where do you get these “official statistics” coach? All the stats I’ve seen indicate that Sweden has become the rape capital of the world, second only to South Africa.

        • Then you don’t know how to read statistics. You’re wrong, of course. As always.

          Sweden has a different definition of rape than almost any other country, including unwanted marital intercourse.

          Learn something today.

        • I believe any kind of “unwanted sexual intercource” is rape, Klastri. Maybe you should be educating yourself as well.

        • Yogaman: you’re quoting from world net daily (wnd), a far-right extremist group, dedicated to manipulative fear-mongering? Yeah, that’s a real reliable source!

        • Skinut, If you are so confident that Sweden does not have a problem, why not your daughter (if you have one) and her young friends go backpacking through Europe unescorted ? Whether or not you like the source of the news , there is always some truth to it. Sweden, Germany, France and all those European countries that have let in multitudes of unvetted refugees have a significant crime problem, including rape. It was not like that when I was there in 90’s when I did several tours in Europe while I was in the Air Force.

  • ALERT DJT: Time for a quick refresher course starting with Marshall McLuhan (remember him?) The Medium is the Massage. Then on to Jean Baudrillard. You need this to stay a few steps ahead of MSM. With this knowledge you will be automatically out ahead of the ghouls, including the AP zombies.

  • I can’t wait until July when Trump talks about how Westeros is a total disaster because of the illegal immigrant White Walkers crossing the border into Westeros and the weak, ineffective Night’s Watch who isn’t doing anything about it.

  • Our President is an international laughingstock, and someone to be ridiculed. People worldwide mock him relentlessly because he’s providing material for them every day. It’s just so sad to watch someone fall apart mentally like he’s doing.

    Every person who voted for Trump should be ashamed of what they’ve done. This cannot end well for the United States.

    • The United States is doing fine despite all the noise from the crying liberals. We are very proud of our new President and fully support him. Maybe you should stop all the crying and try harder in four years. Where’s your bosom buddy Ike? Guess he took the loss and ran away.

      • Come on corporal his base including some who frequent this section are starting to disappear. Haven’t heard from les in awhile. The number of his supporters here wouldn’t be able to field a baseball team.

        • Not the libs commenting here. Kaka, no need for the winners to hang out. The game is over. A few supporters just hang to see what’s up and read the comics.

        • I really feel sorry for you corporal. Can’t imagine the humiliation that it feels like to be scammed big time.

        • America was scammed for the past eight years and now we are on the road to recovery. Remember you can keep your Doctor, save $2500 a year and the rest of the lies from the Kenyan? Lest we forget.

      • White House principal deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders said Mr Trump was referring to “rising crime and recent incidents in general, and not referring to a specific incident”.

        But official statistics show Sweden’s crime rate has fallen since 2005, even as it has taken in hundreds of thousands of immigrants from war-torn countries like Syria and Iraq.
        Sweden’s embassy in the US repeated Mr Trump’s tweet about having seen the Fox report, and added: “We look forward to informing the US administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies”.

  • Breaking news! The Chump has just selected Paul Bunyan to be his national security advisor. Attempts to confirm this report with Mr. Bunyan have been unsuccessful. Family members of Mr. Bunyan said that he is tending to his sick blue ox Babe.

  • Trump’s “mistake”caused the Swedes to scratch their heads and ridicule the POTUS. Trump supporters can say “Oh come on, he saw it on TV and he didn’t mean to misrepresent”. But what if his next “mistake”( and there WILL be one) results in people getting hurt or dying? Trump needs to get rid of his huge ego, CAREFULLY READ AND ANALYZE everything with his advisors, craft a response with the assistance of his team, and then (and only then) make pronouncements publicly. I for one am so glad that there are millions of Americans questioning and challenging Trump’s words and actions. At least the world will know that not all Americans are clueless.

  • It wasn’t what “Happened last night in Sweden”… it was what he heard last night on the TV about Sweden. It is so funny the way the
    Trump Haters will do to twist things around… Tragic really, because they are just making them selves look silly and loosing more credibility. LOL

  • Recently in the so called “fake” media, it was somewhat of a relief to know that a person who in the past managed the “nuclear football”, was able to at least indicate that the device doesn’t actually launch the weapons, but alerts the national command structure to do so after consulting with the President and that they also can apparently make a judgement if the order is warranted and more importantly, sane. Several persons in this command structure could disagree or even refuse to carry out the order if they establish that the POTUS has become unhinged. In a sense, it appears to be at least like the “two man rule” in the military that are located with the weapons themselves. Of course, the command structure would never openly divulge their authorization protocols and options, but this makes real sense not to leave it in the hands of one person, even at the highest level (yeah, I know we may have less than 7-10 minutes to make this decision, but better than nothing and would likely be based on an incoming attack versus a rogue effort first by us). I do fervently hope the Russians and the Chinese operate the same way, but like North Korea, who knows for sure.

  • Trump says CNN, ABC, CBS, NBCnews (not simply NBC, because he doesn’t want to anger the upper management that overlooks his own program), etc. are “fake news,” yet he gets his news from FOX??!!! LOL Our current President is the absolute mentally challenged of all Presidents. Trump makes the younger Bush seem intelligent.

  • First, the Bowling Green Massacre, then Atlanta Terrorist Attacks, and now Swedish Horrors, and other alternative facts brought to you by FAKE news and President of the United States of Amerussia.

  • It’s not about his lying or his round table that could not recognize the truth if it came up and slapped them in the face. He has control of a very powerful military. And we should ALL be concerned.

    • All you Trump hatred have been proven wrong again. Crime has risen tremendously in Sweden, just tootle “Sweden crime” and you will see how it has increased and that their government is trying to keep it on the down low. Read facebook posts from people who actually live there and they will agree. Also, good for the few dozen protesters on immigration day, you guys lost your jobs! HAHA!

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