Trump Makes Alleged False Claim Germans Are ‘Turning Against Their Leadership’ Because Crime Is ‘Way Up’

President Donald Trump took to Twitter once again to launch an attack at European leadership. This time, Germany was Trump’s target. To be more precise, the POTUS referenced the most recent refugee wave, implying in his tweet that it was indeed the influx of immigrants that is responsible for the alleged (and non-existent) spike in the crime rate.

Below is the president’s tweet, verbatim.

“The people of Germany are turning against their leadership as migration is rocking the already tenuous Berlin coalition. Crime in Germany is way up. Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!”

But, as it turns out, “millions of people” Germany has let in have not “violently changed” the German culture. Official data, released by Germany’s interior ministry, heavily contradicts Trump’s statements.

As the European edition of Politico reported in May this year, in 2017, Germany recorded the lowest crime rate since 1992. Released by Germany’s interior ministry, the latest crime statistics clearly indicate the number of crimes committed in Germany is the lowest in 25 years.

Germany also saw a decline in attacks on asylum and refugee shelters; a drop of 68.6 percent was recorded. Meaning, 312 offenses were recorded in 2017, compared to 995 in 2016.

President Trump’s latest tweet is in line with what he has previously tweeted and publicly said, painting a picture of Europe rife with violent crime, contradicting official reports and statistics. For instance, President Trump repeatedly used Germany and Sweden as examples of what would happen to the United States if the country decided to accept immigrants.

Swedes, the POTUS said, “took in large numbers” and are having problems “they never thought possible.” Similarly to President Trump, England’s Nigel Farage called Sweden “the rape capital of Europe.”

Yet, according to Snopes, which has fact-checked Donald Trump and Nigel Farage’s claims, there is simply no data to show that Sweden is “the rape capital of Europe” or even that rape is on the rise in the country.

Furthermore, the justice system in Sweden is, Snopes noted, known for its broad definition of rape, but even with that taken into consideration, nothing indicates that rape or violent crime is on the rise.

As The Independent also noted, according to official data, crimes by non-German nationals in Germany have also significantly declined, falling by 23 percent since 2016. In spite of that, according to the same government-issued report, 44 percent of Germans said they felt less secure than they did a few years ago.