”Yes you did, no I didn’t” followed by ”You did, no I didn’t´. I think for most of us this type of conversation is more reminiscent of the time we hadn’t acquired too many social skills and quite prepared to hit the other kid on the head with a plastic spade for lying or, telling the truth whatever the case may be. Most of us have come a long way since then, so much so that we realise that this kind of behaviour will not open very many doors. To me there seems little doubt that this type of behaviour actually opened one door, making Donald Trump probably the most talked about man on the planet.
Sweden is no exception, neither when it comes to talking about Trump nor being used as a tool to justify his politics in the US. There may be some poetic justice here, considering the immigration debate in Sweden. On the one hand everything is hunky dory with ”New Swedes” (new as opposed to old where old is not the opposite of young) on their way to work in blue and yellow hijabs, on the other the looming destructure of a society and a people. No, to be fair not many people in Sweden believe either. Most Swedes are well enough educated to point out Europe on a map and even Sweden. On my travels I have noticed that that is not always the case in countries that don´t play soccer and have never heard of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swede in everybody´s heart here. Say no more!
This is Sweden, so the borderlines for the extreme right or the extreme left have to be moved inwards a bit. Leaving out the loony left and the loony right makes things somewhat easier, less noisy and definitely less hypocritical. Adapting to a changing world which includes taking in refugees, is not a bone of contention either. Not that surprising considering Sweden´s commitment to the EU not to mention Sweden´s reliance on exporting its products. Swedes like to say ”in Sweden we have a system” which expresses discreet pride in the country´s achievements i.e. a generous and well functioning welfare state. Now we arrive at the heart of the matter. ”The Swedish System” is something a self preserving politician here just has to embrace but not necessarily refrain from pointing out weaknesses and possible solutions even to the point of giving Donald Trump a point. Yes Mr President you´re quite right. Look at Sweden. It´s called Democracy.