Henrik Jönsson got a boot from Magdalena Andersson (S) and her press secretary in an interview with DN.
Now he’s fighting back.
– I don’t just find it offensive to me as a person. It is actually also democratically problematic, says Henrik Jönsson to TV4 Nyheterna.
On Thursday, an interview with Magdalena Andersson was published in DN. There the debater Henrik Jönsson’s funding was questioned. According to her press secretary, the financing is done “to spread hate propaganda against us and Magda”.
After criticism was directed at the party leader from several quarters, Henrik Jönsson himself is now striking back at the former prime minister.
– I think it is remarkable that one of the country’s absolute top politicians sets out to make a single private person suspicious, who directs democratically reasonable criticism against their party, he says to TV4 Nyheterna.
“Financed in solidarity by the people”
According to Henrik Jönsson, he gets paid through voluntary donations. Almost exclusively via Swish.
– Those who give are almost exclusively private individuals, the occasional company. Honorable people, Swedes, ordinary people. I am fully financed by the people, he says and continues:
– What is implied is that there would be dark men who control what I say. There is no one to check what I say. The money I get is a “thank you” for things I do.
In published videos, Henrik Jönsson has consistently criticized Social Democracy in Sweden – which he believes is the reason for Magdalena Andersson’s actions. But instead he had wanted to be met with arguments.
– The way they have handled this is reminiscent of Trump tactics. Where you don’t argue against anything I said, but try to undermine my credibility as an individual in a discussion about disinformation and Russia.
Magdalena Andersson’s answer
In an interview with Echo Magdalena Andersson responded to the criticism. There, the party leader denies that she implied a connection to Russian propaganda. She also mentioned that it was a person who had the prime minister as a guest – and referred to Jönsson as “high-profile”. Something he himself thinks is “pure nonsense”.
– The Social Democrats and Magdalena Andersson do not understand what the modern media climate looks like. They haven’t been able to keep up with the times, they don’t understand this, they don’t like it and they can’t communicate in this climate. That’s why they attack me.