Trump is changing the world.
Last week I wrote about the presentation, at Oslo City Hall, of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to María Corina Machado of Venezuela, who has led a courageous struggle for freedom against her country’s monstrous dictator, Nicolás Maduro. That prize ceremony took place on the afternoon of Wednesday, December 10, in the presence of the king and queen of Norway, and involved a good deal of pomp and music and, of course, security measures.On the previous evening, as it happens, another freedom fighter was also welcomed in Oslo. I am referring to Tommy Robinson, the 43-year-old Englishman who has long been his country’s most vocal critic of Islamic rape gangs and of the government officials who have covered them up.
The news website document.no, which is widely referred to as “alternative” because it delivers the real news rather than the left-wing narrative, had arranged for the translation of Tommy’s new book, Manifesto, into Norwegian – in which the title, losing a letter, becomes Manifest – and had welcomed him for a book launch attended by a large audience of his admirers. Unlike the awards ceremony for Machado, Tommy’s book launch took place at a location that had to be kept secret until as late as possible, and it was not the same venue at which he appeared last year, under the same auspices. Last year’s venue, it turned out, had ruled out any repeat performances by Tommy owing to “threats, pressure, and political targeting.”
There was one important thing that the Nobel Prize ceremony and the Tommy Robinson event had in common. In a word: Trump.
Machado? She dedicated her award to the American president, who has lent unwavering support to her movement and taken increasingly serious military action against the Maduro regime. It has been observed that the Norwegian Nobel Committee should have recognized the Venezuelan resistance years ago, but didn’t do so because Norway’s political establishment was, until recently, still on the side of Maduro.
What changed? Trump. In my Friday piece I quoted a Facebook “friend” who suggested that Trump had leaned on the committee to choose Machado. I don’t think the committee operates that way. But I do think that its members recognized that the winds had shifted – big time. And that the strong new wind was blowing from the direction of the Oval Office.
As for Tommy, he noted in Oslo last week that major changes had taken place since his previous appearance there. At the time of last year’s event, he was on the verge of being imprisoned for his documentary Silenced, which has since been viewed by millions. Since then, as he put it, he’s been “brought in from the dark” – mainstreamed, normalized.
How did this happen? There were several factors. Jordan Peterson had the courage to interview him online – and to treat him respectfully. Elon Musk, after buying Twitter (now X), gave Tommy back his account, began paying his legal bills, and posted ardent messages of support. YouTube, too, restored his account. The hosts of the influential Triggernometry podcast, who for a long time considered Tommy too extreme to platform, not only interviewed him but invited him to their 2025 Christmas party. This entire sea change, said Tommy, could only be attributed to one thing: the return of Trump to the White House.
“Something’s happening,” maintained Tommy. “Something huge.” He felt it coming, he said, during his visit to Oslo last year, and this time around he feels its presence. It’s an awakening. In 2006 I published a book about the Islamization of Europe entitled While Europe Slept. In Oslo the other day, Tommy asserted that Europe is no longer sleeping. He cited the large numbers of people who’ve attended his rallies. And he rejected the argument that rallies accomplish nothing: on the contrary, he insisted, they show that there’s a wave of change in public thinking, and “politicians will ride the wave.” Case in point: Nigel Farage, who used to shrink pusillanimously from criticizing Islam or talking about the return of criminal and illegal aliens to their countries of origin, but who now, said Tommy, sounds as if he’s “reading my scripts.”
And it’s true. Until very recently, few people dared mention the idea of shipping immigrants back home. Years ago, when Trump called Haiti a “shithole country,” even many of his strongest supporters were rattled. But the other day, when Trump announced a pause in immigration from “hellholes,” an audience member loudly corrected him – “shitholes!” – leading the crowd to cheer merrily. Now, in Europe, at least a few political leaders who wouldn’t have gone near such language a year or two ago are starting to parrot it. In an interview that he gave in Oslo the day after his presentation, Tommy pointed out that “the talk of mass deportations” was “unthinkable” as recently as eighteen months ago, but is now on the table.
Why? Again, one word: Trump. --->READ MORE HERE
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