After spending literally days mocking President Donald Trump for inventing a “Sweden Incident” involving Middle East immigrants, the liberal Big Three networks were hanging their heads in shame Tuesday morning in the wake a violent immigrant riot that broke out in Stockholm the night before. “Police in Sweden are investigating a riot that broke out overnight in a predominantly immigrant suburb of Stockholm,” announced Fox News anchor Bret Baier during Special Report, yet it went unreported by the nets all day.
According to Baier, “The clashes started when a police officer arrested a drug suspect and people began throwing stones. One officer fired his gun but no one was hit. A police spokesman said some civilians who tried to stop the looters were assaulted themselves.”
He even took the time to poke a little fun at the media who chastised the President and Fox News for reporting “false” information. “Over the weekend, you remember President Trump was criticized for referencing an interview on Fox News that cited crime significantly increasing in the wake of Muslim immigration problems in Sweden,” he said with a smirk.
But the damage was worse that Baier alluded too. “More riots erupted later in the evening, causing damage to shopfronts as well as instances of looting,” CNN (who also mocked Trump) reported, “A police spokesperson said 10 cars had been torched, but that order and security had been restored by midnight.”
And despite repudiation from Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven of high crime rates, Swedish police admitted to CNN that “that while riots like those on Monday night are unusual, it is not the first time unrest has broken out in Rinkeby.” CNN recalled that in 2013 “riots flared for a week” with schools and a police station being set on fire.
During ABC’s Good Morning America Tuesday morning, Clinton lackey George Stephanopoulos and correspondent Jon Karl had what was arguably either moment of complete ignorance or a denial of reality, as they continued to mock the idea of violence in Sweden.
“No internal vetting of those comments about Sweden and what a diplomatic incident they have created,” Stephanopoulos scorned during a conversation about the White House vetting Trump’s revamped travel restrictions. Karl responded by hyping a tweet from the official Swedish twitter account that attacked the US for its crime rate:
Yeah, it's something else. You know, there was -- the official Swedish Twitter account which is actually controlled each week by a Swedish citizen had an interesting tweet, “We have around 100 murders per year. That's like two days in the U.S. Two days.” You know, the bottom line is Sweden has taken in a lot of immigrants, about 200,000 refugees over the last few years. But there is no sign at least yet of any kind of a major spike in crime in Sweden.
No mention from Karl of the Monday night riot and no mention of the riots in 2013. The failure to even grant the news a brief shows the liberal networks’ unwillingness to give Trump any ground even when he’s correct. Their blackout of reality only serves to do more harm than good.
Transcripts below:
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FNC
Special Report
February 21, 2017
6:22:11 PM EasternBRET BAIER: Police in Sweden are investigating a riot that broke out overnight in a predominantly immigrant suburb of Stockholm. The clashes started when a police officer arrested a drug suspect and people began throwing stones. One officer fired his gun but no one was hit. A police spokesman said some civilians who tried to stop the looters were assaulted themselves. Over the weekend, you remember President Trump was criticized for referencing an interview on Fox News that cited crime significantly increasing in the wake of Muslim immigration problems in Sweden.
...
ABC
Good Morning America
February 21, 2017
7:10:32 AM Eastern…
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And Jon, on that ban, the president really probably will come later this week the aim to make this bulletproof in the courts.
JON KARL: That's exactly the goal here is making sure this is something that can withstand the constitutional challenge in the courts and it's a very different process this time, George and that's why we're not seeing it immediately. I don't expect it till the end of the week at the very earliest because it is going through an extensive internal vetting process here and the president now has his national security cabinet in place. They will be weighing in on this including Attorney General Sessions,Secretary Kelly over at the the Department of Homeland Security. This will not be rushed through and want to be sure they get it right this time, that it can withstand the challenge in court.
STEPHANOPOULOS: No internal vetting of those comments about Sweden and what a diplomatic incident they have created.
KARL: Yeah, it's something else. You know, there was -- the official Swedish Twitter account which is actually controlled each week by a Swedish citizen had an interesting tweet, we have around 100 murders per year. That's like two days in the U.S. Two days. You know, the bottom line is Sweden has taken in a lot of immigrants, about 200,000 refugees over the last few years. But there is no sign at least yet of any kind of a major spike in crime in Sweden.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Okay, Jon Karl.
KARL: Let alone terrorism.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Jon Karl and Martha Raddatz, thanks very much.
(H/T to NewsBusters Analyst Kristine Marsh for providing the GMA transcript)