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Sweden’s relationship with the United States has had its ups and downs. When a plane was hijacked in Malmö in 1972, President Nixon said in a recording: “I wish they had taken the prime minister …”
Of course, he is referring to Olof Palme, whose criticism of the Vietnam War prompted Washington to call home its ambassador. When the Western powers invaded Iraq in 2003, Sweden was ruled by the more pro-American Göran Persson. The KU Green Party reports it in search of support for the American ambassador.
Stefan Löfven’s visit at the White House 2018 it was more in the spirit of Persson than Palmes. Values are teaching Sweden about segregation and crime. The guest ends up on the defensive, in the United States with 16,000 murders a year and a prison population of 2.3 million.
Classic Donald Trump.
Since 2016, the Swedish government, like its colleagues in other countries, has succumbed to political shit from Washington. With a president who lies fifteen times a day, you can choose your battles. Diplomacy and truth become different worlds.
It costs money to speak clearly to the superpower, as our prime ministers have pointed out. However, when they leave Rosenbad, other rules apply. An explosive example is the new Prime Minister’s book 2006-2014, between Persson and Löfven.
Fredrik Reinfeldt has written a guide for November 3, when the United States will appoint a president, 435 members of the House of Representatives, 35 senators and 11 governors. “The most important election of the century”, according to the author: “When Donald Trump seems to be driven by a will for dictatorship of the same type that exists in dictatorships, he challenges the US constitution and the foundations of democracy.”
Reinfeldt is barely the first to sound the alarm, but it certainly sounds louder from a former prime minister. His analysis of the 45th president of the United States is as solid as it is overwhelming.
If the White House is transformed into a mafia-like family business, there won’t be much backbone left in the free world. Four more years would be a near death experience. But aren’t all the presidential elections the most important in history?
We only know in hindsight. Jefferson’s election in 1800 became historic because a sitting president benevolently resigned. Lincoln’s election in 1860 led to a civil war over slavery. Roosevelt’s election in 1932 ushered in an era of active politics. On the contrary, with Reagan in 1980, the state withdrawal began.
The presidential elections that had previously been less important: Al Gore versus George W Bush in 2000, proved to be of epic importance after 9/11. The candidates seemed interchangeable, until one of them got the genius to occupy Iraq.
Photo: Aimee Dilger
The most acclaimed The leader of all, Abraham Lincoln, was chosen by the smallest possible margin. The only one who was forced to resign in disgrace, Richard Nixon, won the other way around with record numbers. The story is written on the rear view mirror.
In 2020, nothing less than peace and freedom are at stake, according to Fredrik Reinfeldt. Go through the complicated electoral system carefully. Analyze state by state. Gives good advice to two parties in a self-inflicted crisis.
Republicans are beyond rescue, a doormat for Trump. For Democrats, it is important to resist the temptation of radical left turns. Success comes with center-right politicians like Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. “When the need for reform at a leisurely pace and popular acceptance is replaced by activist-fueled anger and contempt for dissent, a party leaves the broad road and believers go to the desert,” Reinfeldt writes.
It is one of the few passages in the book based on Swedish politics. The creator of the New Moderates has been careful not to review his successors. Reinfeldt does a Bildt: he invests in the big world when the little country wiped him out.
Photo: Joseph Prezioso / AFP
But he’s doing fine. For a voter guide in Swedish with a shelf life of two months, this is a luxury book. Full story. Ambitious analysis. Dry but effective Prosan, as in a government study:
SOU 2020: 48 – WE NOTIFIED THE US FOR THE SECOND TIME
The style is elevated in Trump’s sawing and when Reinfeldt draws on his own experiences. The Vice President of the United States calls the Prime Minister of Sweden: “Hi Fredrik, I’m Joe Biden.” The conversation will be “a textbook example of how international diplomacy should be handled.” Reinfeldt is impressed by the way the American doesn’t look at him. “Biden had put me to work without creating irritation.”
The meeting with George W. Bush in the White House is also “very successful”, the president is not as simple as it is rumored. But when it comes to substance, Reinfeldt is once again the state investigator; Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq: “None of these three wars have been successful.”
In a climate of polarization and exaggeration feel the correct release from such understatements. Passive aggression is underestimated. Fredrik Reinfeldt’s controlled tone makes the warnings ring even louder:
“Each country for itself, each success built on power, manipulation and threat, in a world where the greatest comes first. With Donald Trump re-elected, it will not be a hiatus. It will be the beginning of a new authoritarian world order. “
Amen.
Read more: Reinfeldt is concerned about violence from disappointed Trump supporters
Read more texts by Niklas Ekdal and more book reviews by DN
