Donald Trump may have blatantly fabricated a terrorist attack in Sweden during his rally held in Florida on Saturday, but as luck would have it for the POTUS, a riot carried out on Monday may give some fuel to the fire for those who are desperate to believe the expanding narrative about refugees and immigrants.
Trump was listing off attacks around the world perpetuated by Muslims to drive his anti-immigrant narrative at his Florida rally when he did something that many in his staff are wont to do – made up an attack.
Trump referred to an attack in Sweden “last night,” that didn’t take place. He later admitted that he got the information about the fictional attack from Fox News as on Friday evening, Fox News aired a report about an uptick in refugee violence in the nation with little facts and reports from just a handful of people.
In fact, the Swedish police officers whose interview was used for the bulk of the report later said that their responses were taken out of context to create an anti-refugee narrative, further misinforming viewers, which this time happened to include the President of the United States.
But on Monday, a riot broke out in one of Sweden’s most segregated areas after a police officer arrested a resident seemingly without reason. The riot likely resembled those we have seen in the U.S. in recent years surrounding police violence and Black Lives Matter, with storefronts being vandalized and some cars set ablaze. Riots similar to the one held on Monday occurred in the same neighborhood in 2010 and 2013, a sign that the hig
Despite this event, experts in Sweden say that the influx of refugees has been by far a peaceful transition, and less than 1 percent of crimes in the nation are committed by refugee. Still, like many other nations, a large number of Swedes believe that refugees and foreigners are disproportionately responsible for crime in their nation.
Despite this outbreak of crime in a highly segregated neighborhood, the President has been more than clear that his comments came from a misleading Fox News report. While he may have found some justification this time, we recommend that he pay less attention to television and more to his intel briefings.
