The Internet Remembers the Tragedy in Sweden on Sunday
Donald Trump referred to a made-up incident, and the internet ran wild with it.
This weekend, citizens of the internet gathered to mourn the tragedy in Sweden after President Donald Trump’s comments on Saturday at his campaign-style rally in Florida.
At the rally, the president energized the crowd, railing against crime, Obamacare, and the dishonest media. Amid comments about immigration, Trump mentioned a tragedy in Sweden, a country known for taking in large numbers of refugees, but it’s not clear what he was talking about. Many news outlets have reported that no such incident occurred.
“You look at what’s happening. We’ve got to keep our country safe,” he said. “You look at what’s happening in Germany, you look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this?”
These comments come just a couple weeks after Trump’s counselor Kellyanne Conway spoke about the fictitious Bowling Green Massacre, which she said was ignored by the mainstream media.
It seems like similar logic is at play in this most recent situation. Sewell Chan reports for the New York Times that Trump may have been influenced by a recent Fox News interview with Tucker Carlson, in which filmmaker Ami Horowitz claims that the Swedish government has covered up or downplayed the increases in crime brought by immigrants.
“There was an absolute surge in both gun violence and rape in Sweden when they began this open-door policy,” Horowitz tells Fox News.
Swedish officials are baffled by the remarks, though. “Sweden? Terror attack?” former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt tweeted early Sunday morning. “What has he been smoking? Questions abound.”
The internet being the internet, responses to the Swedish tragedy continue to roll in as people bow their heads in sarcastic mourning.
Many people weighed in with the few Swedish things they know about: Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show, Ikea, and Swedish fish.
Chelsea Clinton wondered whether the Bowling Green suspects had been apprehended in Sweden.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling paid tribute to the made-up tragedy, retweeting a claim that, “Literally the biggest incident of Sweden [Friday] night was a horse called Biscuit being rescued from a well.”
Here’s a video of the statement in question:
