A Deterring Example

Because they lead the charge when Trump Derangement Syndrome takes hold, the trained hamsters in the mainstream media are the first to "fact check" any statement made by Donald Trump; trip over themselves to highlight any inconsistency as a "lie;" rush to condemn his lack of political correctness when discussing many of the world's bad actors; take umbrage when he doesn't turn the other cheek but instead counterpunches when his critics attack, and generally snark not only at him, but at his nominees for executive positions in government. But there's one thing the hamsters (and most Democrats and progressives) won't do—they never, ever will admit when they were wrong in their criticism.

A while back, in order to support his suggestion that unrestricted Muslim immigration from countries that have significant Islamist elements was a bad idea (anathema to the left), the president noted that violence in Sweden due to unconstrained Muslim immigration from the war-torn Middle East was a real problem. As an example, he used an attack in Sweden that turned out to be incorrect. The crescendo of criticism was as loud as it was broad. There's only one problem—Trump was wrong about the instance he mentioned, but entirely correct about the overarching phenomenon.

Politico writes:

STOCKHOLM — Sweden may be known for its popular music, IKEA and a generous welfare state. It is also increasingly associated with a rising number of Islamic State recruits, bombings and hand grenade attacks.

In a period of two weeks earlier this year, five explosions took place in the country. It’s not unusual these days — Swedes have grown accustomed to headlines of violent crime, witness intimidation and gangland executions. In a country long renowned for its safety, voters cite “law and order” as the most important issue ahead of the general election in September.

The topic of crime is sensitive, however, and debate about the issue in the consensus-oriented Scandinavian society is restricted by taboos ...

Gang-related gun murders, now mainly a phenomenon among men with immigrant backgrounds in the country’s parallel societies, increased from 4 per year in the early 1990s to around 40 last year. Because of this, Sweden has gone from being a low-crime country to having homicide rates significantly above the Western European average. Social unrest, with car torchings, attacks on first responders and even riots, is a recurring phenomenon.

Shootings in the country have become so common that they don’t make top headlines anymore, unless they are spectacular or lead to fatalities. News of attacks are quickly replaced with headlines about sports events and celebrities, as readers have become desensitized to the violence. A generation ago, bombings against the police and riots were extremely rare events. Today, reading about such incidents is considered part of daily life.

The rising levels of violence have not gone unnoticed by Sweden’s Scandinavian neighbors. Norwegians commonly use the phrase “Swedish conditions” to describe crime and social unrest. The view from Denmark was made clear when former President of NATO and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in an interview on Swedish TV: “I often use Sweden as a deterring example.”

Hmmm. Hyper-PC Scandinavian countries are now using Sweden as a "deterring example" of unrestricted Muslim immigration from places that might produce those with Islamist/terrorist tendencies, but when Trump did this, he was labeled a bigot and a xenophobe. That's par for the course, but what is interesting is that the trained hamsters maintain a studied blackout of Islamist violence perpetrated by Muslim immigrants in Sweden and in Europe in general. Maybe they should report the facts (as Politico has done) and allow the American people to decide whether Trump was right or wrong in his immigration position.