Armstrong Williams: Trump is not wrong about trouble in Sweden

Mainstream media outlets were apoplectic over President Trump’s comments at a rally in Melbourne, Fla., on Feb. 18 when he said, “last night in Sweden they are having problems they never thought were possible.” Cable TV and newspaper headlines ridiculed the president. The problem is, the president was correct — it was the press that got it wrong.

The president may have been inelegant in his phrasing of facts he remembered from a Fox News segment, adding one extra word about events that allegedly happened the “night before,” but he was not wrong on the facts.

The press ran with his mistake, excoriating him to the point of mocking ridicule. Sweden’s prime minister piled on, and before long, the story was no longer about Sweden’s failed immigration policy. As has become the new normal with the liberal press, it was entirely about the big bad Donald Trump.

Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound. https://t.co/XWgw8Fz7tj

— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) February 19, 2017

The Washington Post, CNN and the major news sources, instead of doing reporting on the veracity of the facts behind Trump’s Sweden remark, have been doing “gotcha” journalism and reprinting PR releases from the Swedish foreign ministry to use as cudgel against the Trump administration. This is too bad, because there is a real story here — if only the mainstream newspaper and TV media cared to put the resources into reporting it.

Last year, as we were conducting our own interviews in Paris on European immigration for the Right Side Forum, we found that “PBS NewsHour” was the only news organization to put the resources into reporting Sweden’s immigration failure. Malcolm Brabant provided a fair, two-sided perspective that the immigration issue in Sweden deserved. It is a story of how Swedish immigration policy went off the rails.

For mainstream, progressive-leaning media organizations, though, Sweden is the very model of a progressive utopia. From healthcare to child care to taking care of an aging population, Sweden is believed to be more advanced than the United States.

But the Sweden of 2017 is sending another message: how quickly crisis can overwhelm even a strong country if it gets immigration wrong.

A Swedish police officer posted on Facebook about what he sees today: rape, assault, violence against police officers, blackmail and taking over neighborhoods. He believes that lawlessness has increased, perpetrated for the most part by migrants, and the official government, police and media conspiracy of silence.

“No-go zones,” with high numbers of migrant populations, are the consequence of the state losing control of areas of jurisdiction.

Muslim criminal gangs have taken control of 55 “no-go zones,” according to a report released by Swedish police, which mapped out the areas law enforcement has handed over. Organized crime and drug dealing overrun the areas, and officers frequently face direct attacks when trying to enter them. Immigrant gangs have secured these zones, and the government of Sweden has been powerless to stop it.

{mosads}I have spoken to journalists who cover these zones; they swear that it is very true. I have interviewed European journalists who have had their camera crew cars stoned, equipment broken and news personnel beaten up. Yet, you continue to hear little to nothing in the mainstream media.

Our company will be in Sweden in March to cover many of these devastating and disheartening stories. We hope to access these zones and learn first-hand the results of politically incorrect lessons and what they can mean for everyday Americans. This is a story that needs to be told before we in America become victims of displaced compassion.

While President Trump could have been more detailed in his choice of words earlier this month, he was not wrong about Sweden. It is too bad the reporting of his speech was all about the use of the words “last night” instead of the real issues in Sweden, which remain unreported. Sweden cleverly managed to change the subject from their failure to the president’s.

It is time for journalists to start doing their jobs and stop the ugly “gotcha” coverage of every foible of the man our country elected and we call Mr. President.

Armstrong Williams served as an adviser and spokesman for Dr. Ben Carson’s presidential campaign. He is manager and sole owner of Howard Stirk Holdings I & II Broadcast Television Stations and the 2016 Multicultural Media Broadcast Owner of the Year. Listen to Mr. Williams on Sirius XM126 Urban View nightly 6:00-8:00pm EST. Follow him on Twitter @arightside.

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