--- title: Donald Trump on Sweden: Confusion Over Nonexistent Attack description: President Donald Trump baffled many listeners on Saturday when he appeared to refer to an attack in Sweden that did not occur. canonical: https://time.com/4676024/donald-trump-sweden-terror-attack-rally/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-19T15:08:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:25:05.250Z article:section: Politics og:title: People Are Really Confused About What President Trump Just Said About Sweden og:description: Trump was discussing refugees in Europe during a rally in Florida when he made the comment og:url: https://time.com/4676024/donald-trump-sweden-terror-attack-rally/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76a4b0242a451b20/6988bb00097b90c9c99b8f6c/trump-rally.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: People Are Really Confused About What President Trump Just Said About Sweden twitter:description: Trump was discussing refugees in Europe during a rally in Florida when he made the comment twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76a4b0242a451b20/6988bb00097b90c9c99b8f6c/trump-rally.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # People Are Really Confused About What President Trump Just Said About Sweden > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Feb 19, 2017 3:08 PM UTC  President Donald Trump smiles as he prepares to speak at his "Make America Great Again Rally" at Orlando-Melbourne International Airport in Melbourne, Fla., on Feb. 18, 2017. President Donald Trump smiles as he prepares to speak at his "Make America Great Again Rally" at Orlando-Melbourne International Airport in Melbourne, Fla., on Feb. 18, 2017. Susan Walsh—AP by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Feb 19, 2017 3:08 PM UTC [President Donald Trump ](http://time.com/4674846/president-trump-loves-roundtables-with-ceos-heres-why/)baffled many listeners on Saturday when he appeared to refer to an attack in Sweden that did not occur. Trump was discussing refugees in Europe during a [rally in Florida](http://time.com/4676011/donald-trump-melbourne-florida-rally/?xid=homepage) when he made the comment. “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 are having problems like they never thought possible. You look at what’s happening Brussels, you look at what’s happening all over the world,” he said. No incident occurred in Sweden on Friday night, though Fox News host Tucker Carlson [ran a segment that evening](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSzjfAMk-RI) about a filmmaker who claims crime surges in Sweden are linked to immigrants in the country. Trump often [repeats what he sees on cable news](http://fortune.com/2017/02/02/donald-trump-cable-news-tweet/). Trump’s assertion drew confusion from Swedes and others. “Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound,” former Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted. > [](https://twitter.com/carlbildt/status/833219648044855296) > [](https://twitter.com/AnnaSkarsjo/status/833231444789096448) > [](https://twitter.com/Lambykins60/status/833269812352712705) > [](https://twitter.com/ditzkoff/status/833315216163225600) This wasn’t the first time the White House has been mocked over an apparent reference to an attack. While defending Trump’s travel ban earlier this month, Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway cited the “Bowling Green massacre,” a [terrorist attack that never happened](http://time.com/4659303/kellyanne-conway-bowling-green-massacre-donald-trump/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4676024/donald-trump-sweden-terror-attack-rally/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4676024/donald-trump-sweden-terror-attack-rally/"},"headline":"People Are Really Confused About What President Trump Just Said About Sweden","datePublished":"2017-02-19T15:08:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:25:05.250Z","description":"Trump was discussing refugees in Europe during a rally in Florida when he made the comment","url":"https://time.com/4676024/donald-trump-sweden-terror-attack-rally/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76a4b0242a451b20/6988bb00097b90c9c99b8f6c/trump-rally.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76a4b0242a451b20/6988bb00097b90c9c99b8f6c/trump-rally.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"President Donald Trump smiles as he prepares to speak at his \"Make America Great Again Rally\" at Orlando-Melbourne International Airport in Melbourne, Fla., Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017. 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