The Enemy of the American People

The march toward fascism continued this weekend. On Friday, Donald John Trump tweeted to all his followers, "The FAKE NEWS media (@failing NYTimes, @NBC News, @ABC, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American people." There is no doubt the list would have been longer if it hadn't been for the limited number of characters allowed on a single tweet and the man's disturbingly minuscule attention span.

The next day he kept up his relentless assault on the first amendment and truth itself at a campaign rally in Florida. When it came to immigrants and refugees he told the chanting volk, "You look at what's happening in Germany. You look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden! Who would believe this, Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible."

The assumption Trump wanted his followers to make was that some sort of God awful terror attack had occurred Friday in Sweden. The purported catastrophe was news to the Swedes. The Huffington Post reported one Swedish newspaper responded to the quote by saying, "The U.S. president lives in his own head, playing out his own psycho drama. Former Swedish prime minister, Carl Bildt was more succinct. After catching wind of the statement he tweeted, "Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound."

We can only wish he had been smoking something, but no, it was a vintage Trump lie--one that was meant to reinforce all the terrible nonsense his followers believe.

When faced with the reality nothing had actually happened in Sweden on Friday, Der Donald clarified what he said. Sunday he tweeted, "My statement to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story on FOX News concerning immigrants in Sweden."

Okay, so he was simply repeating--although a tad awkwardly--something he heard on FOX. Apparently Trump was talking about a segment on Tucker Carlson's show during which a right wing propagandist, Ami Horowitz, linked immigrants to an alleged uptick in Swedish crime. To make sure everyone understands the gravity of the situation, Horowitz put together a, "documentary," illustrating the mayhem. While previewing some of the footage on Friday, the filmmaker told Carlson, "Sweden had its first terrorist Islamic attack not that long ago, so now they're getting a taste of what we've been seeing across Europe already."

Well, the term, "not that long ago," depends on your point of view. The last, terrorist attack in Sweden was a suicide bombing carried out in 2010 by an Iraqi born Swedish citizen. That was five years before the tsunami of immigrants began hitting the shores of Europe due to the civil wars in Libya and Syria.

A second Swedish newspaper called Horowitz's report, "...full of errors and exaggerations."

Not to be deterred by any of this vast Nordic cover up, Horowitz claimed, "Sweden's response suggests they are incapable, or unwilling to see the reality of what is happening in their own country."

It was an assertion Trump supporters immediately jumped on. One tweeted, "Liberals desperately trying to cover up the dark reality Trump referred to in Sweden." Another wrote, "Trump has very cleverly got the world talking about the problems in Sweden. The big cover up not now going to work." All this shit also happened, for a moment anyway, to get the focus off the Russian meddling in the election stories--another patently Trump move.

Knowing a button had been pushed, Trump hit the Twitterverse again this morning. He tweeted, "Give the public a break. The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out beautifully. NOT!"

Sweden has the highest per capita incidence of rape in Europe, not an enviable stat. However the latest figures, you know, the ones provided by the people who actually live there, show crime has either declined slightly in the last five years, or remained roughly the same.

In addition two Swedish cops interviewed in Horowitz's flick have expressed what could at best be called confusion over the way their interviews were presented. One of the officers told a Swedish publication, "I don't understand why we were part of the segment (shown on FOX). The Washington Post reports Officer Anders Goranzon went on to say, "The interview was about something completely different to what FOX News and Horowitz were talking about. It was supposed to be about crime in high risk areas. Areas with high crime rates. There wasn't any focus on migration, or immigration."

Yes it would seem someone around here is lying and given their track record my money is on the big orange guy and his media storm troopers. Let's face, two years ago the same clowns at FOX put a, "terrorism expert," named Steven Emerson on the air. He claimed the entire city of Birmingham, England was Muslim and so militant even the British police wouldn't dare go there. The demographic at the time showed Birmingham to be 80% non Muslim. The numbers remain the same today. Emerson was forced to profusely apologize and hasn't been seen since.

Now, tell me again who is the enemy of the American people. Is it the main stream media who might file unfavorable reports about the current occupant of the White House? Or, is it a beast in the oval office who relentlessly uses half truths, outright lies, and crude insults to solidify his popularity and justify his power?

Take a look at the history books. When you do you'll find the answer is obvious--unless, of course, you think history is fake too.





sic vita est



2-20-17