'Immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!' - Donald Trump uses joke made famous by Wayne's World and Borat to blast the 'Fake News media'
Donald Trump has used a joke made famous by Wayne's World and Borat to lash out at the media and insist that Sweden is facing an immigration crisis.
The 70-year-old US president tweeted: "The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!"
Mr Trump earlier attempted to clarify a gaffe he made at a rally on Saturday, when he falsely suggested there had been an immigration-related security incident in Sweden the night before, by saying his comment was based on a television report he had seen.
Give the public a break - The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2017
The tweet on Monday was not the first time Mr Trump has used the infamous "not-joke". In December he tweeted criticism of then-President Barack Obama:
Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks.Thought it was going to be a smooth transition - NOT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2016
Mr Trump, who in his first weeks in office has tried to tighten US borders sharply for national security reasons, told a rally on Saturday that Sweden was having serious problems with immigrants.
"You look at what's happening last night in Sweden," Mr Trump said. "Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible."
No incident occurred in Sweden and the country's baffled government asked the US State Department 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," Mr Trump said in a tweet on Sunday.
My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 19 February 2017
His supporters were also quick to defend the comments, suggesting the media is intent on covering up "what migrants have done to Sweden".
Trump has very cleverly got the world talking about the problems in Sweden. The big cover up not now going to work.
— Anthea Bailey (@anthea_bailey) February 19, 2017
Fox News ran a segment on Friday night on the 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 told reporters on Sunday that Mr Trump had been referring generally to rising crime and not a specific incident in the Scandinavian country.
#swedenincident
Liberals desperately trying to cover up the dark reality Trump referred to in Sweden pic.twitter.com/d6t1A14g5e— Lance ��️�� (@LanceStrasser) February 19, 2017
Sweden's crime rate has fallen since 2005, official statistics show, even as it has taken in hundreds of thousands of immigrants from war-torn countries like Syria and Iraq.
Mr Trump's comment confounded Stockholm. "We are trying to get clarity," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Catarina Axelsson said.
We look forward to informing the US administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies. https://t.co/x5G3euOWRh
— Embassy of Sweden US (@SwedeninUSA) February 19, 2017
Sweden's embassy in the United States 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."
Mr Trump has been widely criticised for making assertions with little or no supporting evidence.
He has said more than three million people voted fraudulently in the US election, which officials say is false, and incorrectly stated that he won by the most decisive margin in decades.
Over the past few weeks, Mr Trump's senior advisor Kellyanne Conway has also referred to a "Bowling Green Massacre" that never occurred, and she was caught up in a public feud with CNN.
What happened in Sweden Friday night? Did they catch the Bowling Green Massacre perpetrators?
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) 19 February 2017
Swedish foreign minister Margot Wallstrom appeared to respond to Trump on Saturday by posting on Twitter an excerpt of a speech in which she said democracy and diplomacy "require us to respect science, facts and the media."
Her predecessor was less circumspect.
"Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound," former foreign minister Carl Bildt wrote on Twitter.
Other Swedes mocked Mr Trump by posting pictures of reindeer, meatballs and people assembling IKEA furniture.
"#lastnightinsweden my son dropped his hotdog in the campfire. So sad!" Twitter user Adam Bergsveen wrote.
After the terrible events #lastnightinSweden , IKEA have sold out of this: pic.twitter.com/Bs1XI7ffKG
— Jeanna Skinner (@JeannaLStars) 19 February 2017
Addressing Mr 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."
Earlier this month Sweden's deputy prime minister Isabella Lovin posted a picture of herself online surrounded by female colleagues as she signed the proposal for Sweden's new climate law.
"We are a feminist government, which shows in this photo," she said. "Ultimately it is up to the observer to interpret the photo."