“Pray For ABBA”: Twitter Explodes After Trump Cites Sweden Terror Attack That Didn’t Happen

“The horrible #SwedenIncident was a copycat attack of the Bowling Green Massacre.”

At a rally in Florida on Saturday, President Donald Trump alluded to an alleged terror attack in Sweden the night before — one that never happened. 

“We’ve got to keep our country safe,” Trump said. “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.  You look at what’s happening in Brussels. You look at what’s happening all over the world. Take a look at Nice. Take a look at Paris.”

According to The New York Daily News, Trump may have been referring to a Fox News segment aired Friday night. In the segment, host Tucker Carlson interviewed a documentary filmmaker who’s been attempting to link asylum-seekers to higher crime in Sweden. The Guardian notes Trump may also have been referring to the city of Sehwan, Pakistan, where a suicide bomber killed 80 people on Friday. 

Ironically, at the same rally, Trump continued to attack the mainstream media as “fake news.” 

In any case, the Internet was running wild with Trump’s statement — which marked the second in a month his administration has fabricated a terror attack to justify policy — after White House counselor Kellyanne Conway invoked the nonexistent “Bowling Green massacre.”

By Sunday morning, both #SwedenIncident and #LastNightInSweden were trending on Twitter. And even Sweden’s former prime minister, Carl Bildt, got in on the action, writing of Trump, “What has he been smoking? Questions abound.” Bildt’s tweet and more below.