Politics

The secret to becoming a sporting superpower

Published

3 months ago

July 11, 2026

Few countries punch above their weight in sport quite like Norway.

With a population of approximately 5.6 million, it consistently produces world-class talent across soccer, athletics, winter sports, cycling, golf and tennis — a success many attribute to a distinctive model that prioritizes participation over early specialization, receives sustained public investment and benefits from a political consensus that sport should be accessible to every child.

Lubna Jaffery, Norway’s minister of culture and equality (whose portfolio includes sports) and a social-democratic politician from the governing coalition’s Labour Party, argues that approach is no accident, even in one of Europe’s wealthiest countries.

Speaking to Blue Light News from Miami’s South Beach, where she had just joined thousands of Norwegian supporters in the now-famous “Viking Row,” Jaffery expanded on Norway’s emphasis on inclusiveness and play, discussed Russia’s potential reintegration to global sports — and revealed how she thinks tonight’s World Cup quarterfinal against England will play out.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Norway keeps producing world-class athletes across football, athletics, winter sports, cycling, golf, tennis. What is the secret to this — and is it the result of deliberate public policy?

Well, I think it’s the notion in Norway that when you’re young, everyone is allowed to do sports. And several sports as well. It’s not like you just do football if you’re doing football, or if you do gymnastics, you’re just doing gymnastics. A lot of the children, they’re doing several activities at the same time from quite a young age. And the competitive part of it isn’t very present at a young age — so they’re doing it mostly for fun.

I think for our government — and also for several governments before our coalition — it’s been very important that all children who want to do sports are allowed to do sports, that the pricing is reasonable and so, if you’re a part of a family that isn’t very well off, you’re also allowed to have children doing sports and also a culture of giving people the chance even though they don’t have a lot of money.

I think the playfulness in the Norwegian sporting system — that we don’t compete from a young age — is a crucial part of why we do have so many athletes doing well. Of course, it’s also due to the very, very hard work they put into it.

Many other countries pursue sporting success by specializing children earlier, spending money and placing winning as the most important thing. As international competition becomes more intense, do you think Norway can continue this development without compromising its values?

I think it’s part of who we are as Norwegians. We want to have a playful approach to sports from quite a young age. Of course, we also have to compete and teach children how it is to be in a competition — because if you want to do this professionally, it’s something you have to learn how to do and all the feelings around being a part of the competition.

I think the philosophy is very clear. OK, you’re taking part in something that is good for you, where you make friends, which gives you the ability to learn different skills that double as life skills when you grow up. If we want to compete at the level we’re doing right now internationally, it is important to take care of the model we have in Norway where inclusiveness and playfulness is a very important part.

Norway was a strong supporter of sanctions against Russia after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The direction of travel at the moment at the IOC and FIFA seems to be toward bringing the Russians back into competition. What do you think about that? Do you think it’s right or wrong?

We have a very long-standing tradition in Norwegian politics — including the Norwegian minister for sports — to support the Norwegian Football Federation and also the Norwegian Olympic Committee and their viewpoints.

So we are backing them, and the Norwegian standpoint is that they don’t want to allow Russian athletes to come back — but you have the different organizations that make the decisions, like the IOC and FIFA that, of course, Norwegian politicians aren’t a part of.

We can’t overrule what the sporting federation is doing, but we are supporting the national sporting federations in Norway and their viewpoints against Russia.

OK, last one. Give me a score prediction for Norway against England tonight.

Well, I think England should win this match, actually, if you look at their track record. Of course, I’m hoping for Norway, though. So I won’t give you a prediction. I think it’s going to be a hard match. I’m very nervous, but I have a good feeling.

Politics

Poll: A crack is emerging in Trump’s coalition over deportations

Published

5 hours ago

September 25, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign is running into resistance within his own voter coalition, as more and more Republican candidates publicly break with him ahead of the November election.

New results from The POLITICO Poll help explain why: Non-MAGA Trump voters are more than twice as likely as self-identified MAGA Trump voters to say his mass deportation campaign is too aggressive, 31% to 14%. While roughly similar shares of both groups believe Trump’s campaign is about right, the MAGA base wants him to go even further: 36% of MAGA Trump voters say his campaign is not aggressive enough, compared with 23% of non-MAGA Trump voters.

Meanwhile, support across Trump’s entire voter coalition falls when it comes to deporting people beyond the most violent offenders, such as those with minor criminal offenses or who have been living in the U.S. for years without legal status.

The new survey, conducted by London-based Public First, reveals how Trump’s immigration agenda — which has long been one of his signature political issues and a reliable GOP rallying point — has divided the very coalition that helped power his two presidential wins. The president’s MAGA loyalists are still more inclined than other Trump voters to support a tougher immigration posture, but there are clear limits to how far voters want the administration to go.

Those intraparty tensions burst into public view this month, when Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) released a campaign ad pushing back against Trump’s deportation agenda, saying some of his efforts “have gone too far” and that Hispanic voters who supported him in 2024 “feel betrayed.” It was a remarkable break from a sitting GOP lawmaker over one of the president’s defining policies, as Democrats have locked in on Florida’s 27th District as a prime target in their bid to flip the House.

Salazar’s public rift with Trump exemplifies the fears Republicans had been privately warning about for months: that the president’s immigration enforcement — marked last year by high-profile, flashy raids that rippled through communities — was alienating moderate Republicans, independents, young voters and Latinos who support border security and immigration enforcement in theory but dislike how it is being carried out.

And as the party stares down a difficult midterm landscape, including in districts and states Trump won in 2024, other GOP candidates followed Salazar’s lead, increasingly putting distance between themselves and the administration on key issues like immigration — despite having voted last year to approve billions of dollars for border security and immigration enforcement. On Wednesday, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), whose race has tightened against Democrat Adam Hamilton, also softened his stance on Immigration and Customs Enforcement as raids in southwest Kansas prompt temporary business closures and schools.

“When ICE operates in Kansas, it needs to coordinate with our local law enforcement. Our sheriffs and police know these communities better than anyone, and working together keeps officers and residents safe,” he wrote on social media, adding that he’s been in direct contact with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

The Blue Light News Poll finds most Americans — including majorities of both MAGA and non-MAGA Trump voters — believe people convicted of serious violent or sexual offenses should be prioritized for deportation, underscoring broad agreement on a more targeted approach to enforcement.

The survey also finds that few people — including among both MAGA and non-MAGA Trump voters — prioritized targeting other groups for deportations. Less than a quarter of each group say people convicted of minor criminal offenses should be prioritized. Support falls further when voters are asked about prioritizing people who have lived in the U.S. for several years without legal status or people with dependent children in the U.S.

“A lot of it has to do with how you talk about it. They don’t want amnesty for people who have broken the law. They want everybody to do it the right way,” said a person close to the White House granted anonymity to discuss how Republicans are viewing the issue. “They understand that some people might be law-abiding, hard working.”

White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said Blue Light News is “skewing data to paint a false narrative.”

“The American people sent President Trump back to the White House to stop the invasion of our country and deport the millions of illegal aliens Biden and Democrats allowed into the country. The president is delivering on his promises,” she said.

Days after releasing the ad, Salazar said she had a “fantastic conversation” with Trump and urged him to protect the political “fortune” he had brought to the Republican Party on immigration. She also told CBS last weekend that Trump and the average American understand “the between the narco and the nanny and the gangster and the gardener.”

She said the administration should distinguish between criminals and unauthorized immigrants working in crucial industries such as agriculture, construction, hospitality and health care.

That distinction is also reflected in The Blue Light News Poll. Both MAGA and non-MAGA Trump voters are open to maintaining or increasing the number of people coming into the U.S. to work in sectors facing labor shortages, such as health care or agriculture. Sixty-five percent of MAGA Trump voters and 69% non-MAGA Trump voters say they want to see about the same number — or more — people coming to the U.S. to work in those sectors facing labor shortages.

“Trump 2.0 that took over in January 2025 completely misread what voters were telling him and Joe Biden during 2024, which was that they wanted to see more order and security over the U.S.-Mexico border,” said Matt Barreto, who conducted polling for former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 campaign. “Instead, what Trump told Americans was, ‘Now I’m going to go hunt down immigrants who are just working and contributing to America.’ And there was extremely limited support for that.”

Past POLITICO polling on immigration has shown that the Trump administration has been unable to reverse the damage with voters on the issue. Last fall, battleground Republicans were already expressing concern about the administration’s immigration tactics. Those concerns intensified in the months that followed, while negative voter sentiment hardened by April after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.

The Trump administration, in the wake of bipartisan outrage, softened its rhetoric and abandoned flashy raids that often devolved into clashes with protesters. The president also installed Mullin, who moved quickly to repair relationships on Capitol Hill and keep the Department of Homeland Security out of the headlines.

But Mullin is also facing pressure from MAGA critics and immigration hardliners who think he’s not committed to the president’s vow to deport millions of unauthorized immigrants. In an effort to shore up his support with that contingent, top administration accounts, including Mullin’s, have ramped up posts about ICE, arrests statistics and tough talk about the administration’s immigration enforcement agenda.

Politics

Gina Hinojosa wants to make Texas a test case for Democrats’ future

Published

15 hours ago

September 25, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Gina Hinojosa wants to make Texas a test case for Democrats’ future

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Politics

Trump eyes an October campaign rally — in Alabama

Published

20 hours ago

September 24, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump is tentatively set to visit Alabama for a political rally next week, a curious move in a deep-red state as his party fights for control of Congress in several battlegrounds.

The event is penciled in for Oct. 2 in Mobile, but the plans have not yet been finalized and are subject to change, according to two people with direct knowledge of the preparations who were granted anonymity to disclose private planning.

An October rally in Alabama would be a somewhat confounding decision for the president. The GOP has found itself having to play defense in their own territory recently, with Democratic candidates are seriously competing for Senate seats in normally red states like Alaska and Texas. But Alabama has not been considered a state where Democrats have any real shot at winning any statewide office.

Spokespeople for the White House and Republican National Committee did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The rally could help shore up support for state Rep. Rhett Marques, who is locked in a somewhat competitive race with Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures. Marques is still seen to have the advantage after the Supreme Court allowed the state to use a House map that reconfigured Figures’ majority-Black district earlier this year. Mobile, though, is outside of that district.

Marques’ campaign and Figures’ campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

A foray into Alabama would not be the first time that the president has tried to shore up support in a solidly Republican state this cycle — he rallied last month in South Carolina for Sen. Darline Graham during her primary runoff — but as the general election season has begun he has also started to visit battleground states. Last week, he rallied alongside GOP Senate nominee Michael Whatley in North Carolina.

Trump’s potential campaign visit would follow Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy’s announcement last week that the Trump administration has granted a $2.5 billion loan to the Alabama Toll Road, Bridge, and Tunnel Authority. That money will fund the construction of the Mobile River Bridge — the largest infrastructure project in the state’s history. The president is also fond of GOP Rep. Barry Moore, who is running for Senate in the state. Another close ally, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, is the Republican nominee for governor. He’s running against Democratic former Sen. Doug Jones, who he unseated in 2020.