Donald Trump may have encouraged a superfan to rush behind the presidential podium during his campaign-style rally on Saturday, but petrifying the Secret Service with a meme origin story was simply a diversion from the event’s most irresponsible moment.
As some people noticed but plenty more were distracted from caring about, Trump was condemning refugees by way of listing terrorist attacks when he slipped in a bizarrely unfounded comment about a phantom event in Sweden:
https://twitter.com/SteveKopack/status/833109003160924160
“Here’s the bottom line: We’ve gotta keep our country safe. You look at what’s happening … We’ve gotta keep our country safe,” Trump repeated while basking in applause from supporters. “You look at what’s happening in Germany, you look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Who would believe this?”
Well, not Sweden! Or anyone else who has their guard up after the Trump administration’s Bowling Green Massacre and Atlanta misfires. Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister of Sweden, was quick to chime in.
Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound. https://t.co/XWgw8Fz7tj
— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) February 19, 2017
Others directly fed into the comment, showing just how dangerous it was.
President Trump please build those Safe Zones quickly !! We cannot & will not become Sweden, France etc etc!!! pic.twitter.com/72ejdzMiqo
— Dogs Rule (@mypupcocobear) February 18, 2017
And while there was plenty of harsh criticism thrown Trump’s way, it didn’t take long for the conversation to devolve into IKEA and Swedish Chef jokes.
Journalist at one of #Sweden's newspapers & people in their newsroom have no idea what Trump is talking about.Nothing happened. #TrumpRally https://t.co/8Gnz8oRhGH
— Love, Wolfie 🏳️🌈 🇺🇦 (@Golden_Gaytime) February 18, 2017
https://twitter.com/Shakestweetz/status/833119167104565248
Every body knows why #Trump needs #Sweden:#lastnightinsweden pic.twitter.com/AZwGEos4bq
— Berry Werkman (@Berry_Werkman) February 19, 2017
https://twitter.com/bensilverstein/status/833095237006401537
https://twitter.com/crawlinginblack/status/833118052963201029
hearing trump decry our media's failure to cover the incident in sweden, i decided to check out swedish media. when will the cover ups end pic.twitter.com/mkC08nT8S2
— David Grossman (@davidgross_man) February 19, 2017
Such has become the cycle of Trump-related discourse: Bad thing, justifiable hair-tearing outrage, retreat to humor, rinse, repeat. Gaslit, we’ve become.