People who could change the world in 2026

Pibisi podcast on suurin järjestelmä. Täällä meillä satolla on tapana sanoa. Kun on parhaimillaan kotona, on parhaimillaan elämässä. Siksi meillä on myös lemmikin tervetulleita. Kun on kotona hyvä, on usein myös elämässä hyvä. Mokra huolehton kotia. Sato, pisteffi. [Muutko] Arsiaan on, että se on koko suurin järjestelmä. Tämä on myös se, että se on koko suurin järjestelmä. Kun on se, että se on koko suurin järjestelmä. [Musiikkia] Fajatko, että on koko suurin järjestelmä. Fajatko, että on koko suurin järjestelmä. Kun on se, että on koko suurin järjestelmä. deportations. And so what we have seen from this administration, what we are likely to continue to see in 2026 is that if a crime is committed, the administration takes the opportunity to enact broad wholesale changes to the immigration system. So I'm sure you recall there was this shooting at Brown University last month. And after it turned out that the suspect in that shooting was a recipient of a green card visa lottery, he was from Portugal, the administration decided to pause the green card visa lottery system. So I anticipate we're going to continue to see changes like that. Are there any checks and balances on Stephen Miller at this stage, would you say, or is pretty much anything he wants to do a possibility for him within the White House framework that exists right now? It appears that anything is within the realm of possibility. And you know, Tristan, the reason I think this is really interesting is because immigration is a key part of the United States identity and it has been for many, many years. And for a long time, we had seen broadly, I will say in prior decades, Republicans and Democrats say, okay, there should be some consensus on legal immigration. And what we're beginning to see under Stephen Miller is a desire to want to go and take the United States back to an earlier time when there were more restrictions on legal immigration as well. And you know, that changes a lot about the United States relationship with the world. Okay. So your first prediction is massive influence for Stephen Miller for 2026. My first gestion for 2026 is a man called Peter Maggiar from Hungary. So both of my choices actually are from areas where populism and centrism are coming up against each other. Okay. Because I think that's going to be one of the big stories of 2026, whether or not populism continues to railroad over everything in front of it. Or whether there is some kind of centrist fight back of some sort. Now, Hungary on its own small country, not a few strategic importance to the entire world, it would see. However, Victor Orbán is a model not just for Donald Trump, but for populists around the world. And Hungary itself has historically been a bellweather for things happening elsewhere in the world. So 1956, there was an anti-communist revolution or an attempt to the revolution in Hungary, which the Soviets crushed absolutely ruthlessly, paving the way for another 40 years of communist domination in Eastern Europe. Okay. In 1989, Hungary was the first country to open its borders to the West, bringing down the iron curtain. So in some ways where Hungary goes, the rest of the world follows. Really? Oh, that's a very, very high pedestal you're putting Hungary on. Well, it's a small place, but it has historically told important stories. And in 2026, Hungary has an election in April. It's absolutely crucial. So Victor Orbán has been Prime Minister for a very long time for most of Hungary's post-communist era. In fact, he's been almost unassailable in charge in Hungary. But since 2024, he has a political rival, a centrist called Peter Magiar. And Peter Magiar is currently the favorite, according to bookmakers. Oh, yeah. To de-throne Orbán. Okay. According to bookies. According to people who are not. According to bookies and political policies. Yes. So Peter Magiar, he was actually a party member of Victor Orbán's. He was kind of a little known activist in the Fidesz party. And he first appeared promptly in Hungarian politics back in 2024. So he hasn't been around prominently for that long. And he became famous when he exposed misconduct by various elite members of Orbán's own party, specifically in a child abuse scandal. And since then, he's kind of become a principle figure in Hungarian politics. Are his politics anti-Orban or are they in some ways ideologically really different? Ah, well, good question. Because he specifically portrays himself as an anti-Orban candidate. He doesn't portray himself as left or right or centrist. But he focuses on things like what he says are corruption. And basically the ineffectiveness of Hungarian government as he puts it. So there are a lot of people who feel that Orbán has let the country down economically. The poll numbers have slightly moved back in Orbán's favor in recent weeks. But nonetheless, he is supposed to be the favorite to win the election in April. Now, why is that important? It's important because if Magiar succeeds in unseating Orbán, it'll be an encouragement to centrist and anti-populous around the world. If he fails to do so, it'll be a huge encouragement to populists who will see. They'll be involved in, do you think? Yes, exactly. You make a compelling case for an election to watch. Well, I mean, it's not every day that the world is looking at Hungary, but I think in a few months time, people will be. We might. Yeah. So who have you got for us for your number two nomination fees? For my number two. Okay, I'm going to take us in a totally different direction. And I will say, I think it's worth ringing in the new year with a bit of uplifting news. And this is a rich person who is donating the riches. Okay. Who is this. Well, who is this rich person? Tell me. I wish that people could see Tristan's face because actually, if you're listening to the Synodio, you could see Tristan with his. But if. If I could raise one eyebrow. Of course, the. one of my brown. of the cross-prawd waves. All right, so Mackenzie Scott. Are you familiar? Is she the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos? Indeed. She was previously married to the Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos. And she, in her own right, is also a billionaire. The couple, Jeff Bezos and Mackenzie Scott, got divorced in 2019. And at that time, she received about 4% of Amazon stock, which, you know, still is a hefty chunk of change because it's Amazon. And at that time, she went on sort of a well-known mission to donate her billions. Back in 2019, she wrote, "I have a disproportionate amount of money to share. She went on to say, you know, it will take time and effort, but I won't wait, and I will keep at it until the safe is empty." You know, there are some other billionaires who've pledged to give away a good chunk of their money, and she joined that list. And so since 2019, she has now given away $26 billion. And. - Wow. -. tristan, "Hey, that's a lot of money to make. I don't have any billions, but B, I will say that when you look at this in totality, the media outlet Forbes now counts her as the third most generous American billionaire. They say that her philanthropy has only been exceeded by two men now, and that is Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. Bill Gates, I think many folks will know, and Warren Buffett, he's the former CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Legendary Investor. I just find that really, really interesting, because when you talk about ways that somebody can change the world, they can change the world through politics, but I would also argue they can change the world a lot through money. And so I think that if you look at 2025, it's a glimpse into what we might see from her in 2026. And in 2025, we saw that she gave away the largest amount of money that she has ever given away thus far to single year. It was over $7 billion. - Who is she giving the money to principally? - A whole bunch of organizations. The biggest donation that was listed that was declared went to an organization called Forest People Climate. It's an organization that is working to combat tropical deforestation. That was about a $90 million gift. She also gave millions more to historically black colleges and universities. And specifically, an $80 million gift to Howard University, which is one of the historically black colleges very well known here in Washington, DC. It is one of the largest donations the university said in its history. And so a lot of the money over the last year was spent on education and climate issues. The also organizations that support refugees. And that is just what I think is interesting because she seems to be making a deliberate effort to counter the Trump administration's policies through her money. And it is striking because we have seen so many business leaders line up to visit the White House. Perhaps at times pull back investments or even rhetoric to support diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, right? DEI. And she seems to be saying, no, I want to lean more into this. I have a counterpoint to McKenzie Scott, which is that look, I'm no expert, but there is a considerable amount of opposition to the reliance on philanthropy for things like research and developmental aid. And that is that people who work in these sectors might say that money that's used to help people isn't best dispersed by billionaires who often don't know where it is most needed. So imagine hypothetically speaking that I were a billionaire and I wanted to give away a billion dollars. Now I might be into Montessori schools or helping people with kidney issues or I might be into pottery or something. And I might just decide to disperse those billions of dollars in those three domains. Whereas actually those were not the places that were most needed. Now that's the criticism which is often leveled at billionaire philanthropists that they it's great that they give the money away, but in fact they don't always know how it's best used and that this kind of money is better distributed by aid agencies or governments or universities or whatever you think of those institutions, their experts in the field and they know how to use the money. It's an intriguing argument. I'm sure many listeners will recall that the Trump administration has made massive cuts to foreign aid and they dismantled USAID which was the primary way of sending a lot of that global investment around the world. Their argument was that USAID was making choices based on ideology and politics and they thought it was an ineffective organization. But in shutting that organization there is now a substantial financial gap. The US has been working on this for 12 years now and not even in the US. What's the point? What about you Tristan? Who's your final suggestion for us? My final suggestion comes as I mentioned before also from this kind of nexus of where populism and a more centrist view of the world meet and my suggestion is Lamine Yamal. He's currently 18 years old. He's a football player, soccer player who plays for Barcelona and Spain and he may be about to be the most famous sportsperson on the planet. Yeah, looking ahead to the World Cup in 2026. I want you to picture the following hypothetical sea. It's Sunday, July the 19th at the New York New Jersey Stadium just outside New York City. It's the World Cup final. Spain has just been England in the World Cup final and the England is the reporting but okay, yes, go ahead. Well, it's strongly possible according to where the draw is laid out and the winning goal in the match is scored by Lamine Yamal. Donald Trump hands the World Cup trophy to the Spanish captain and then he puts a winner's medal around Lamine Yamal's neck. Now these two men, they represent diametrically opposing views of the world. So on the one hand, you have the most powerful man in the world who wants to end all illegal immigration in his country and on the other hand, you have a person who's now for many people a case study of successful integration in a society. So let me tell you a little bit about Lamine Yamal. He grew up in a working class town, very close to Barcelona. He's the son of immigrants from Morocco and Equatorial Guinea in West Africa. His grandmother snuck into Spain from Morocco on a bus and his mother raised him in Catalonia while working multiple jobs, including at a McDonald's. When he's placed football, he's sometimes wears boots with the flags of Morocco or Guinea on them. His own uncle has described him as an example of integration in Spain. How integration can work. He's already a huge football star in Spain, even though he's so young and he's so talented that he's seen as a possible heir of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Oh wow. So Spain is a very interesting case because obviously we know a lot about how Donald Trump has been critical of Europe and its views on things like immigration. And Spain has a socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez. And Pedro Sanchez believes in increasing immigration into Spain, not just from Africa but also from Latin America. And Spain has some of the healthiest growth, economic growth in the European Union. And Lamine Yamal is kind of a symbol of that. So not everyone in Spain loves him. He has had a certain amount of abuse from people on the hard right. But generally speaking, Lamine Yamal is seen as a kind of poster child of integration in Spain, which is why I say that if we have a situation where he's standing next to Donald Trump and Donald Trump is putting a gold medal around Lamine Yamal's neck, it would be a striking image of kind of two world colliding, two outlooks on the way the world might be. I think that could be a massive moment in 2026. So my second nominee is Lamine Yamal. It's very full circle Tristan. We began with Stephen Miller and how immigration in the US might change. And we end here with Lamine Yamal and a very different view of immigration. I'm aware that both of my choices are European choices and American choices. Well, I make no excuse. I make no apology for that in the sense that I also think that Europe and the question of its decline or its fight back, I think in 2026 will be a huge story because obviously Europe is in the crosshairs of Donald Trump's White House. And maybe he's right, maybe Europe is in terminal decline or maybe Europe will try and make a comeback. But I think that's going to be a story that we're going to be covering a lot in 2026. I am still left wondering Tristan. Does one person actually have the power to change the world? Well, I think the answer to that question lies in what we do almost every day on our show, which is try to unpack and make sense of the workings of one man in the White House. And therefore, I think the answer is a resounding yes because it occupies quite a lot of our time. What do you think? I don't know. That's a really tough question to answer. I think that history kind of moves in ebbs and flows, right? And so one person might change the world for a moment in time, but the changes they made might be erased, they might go in a different direction, and they're not necessarily permanent. Like I think of things that I saw as a kid that feel so irrelevant now, right? Or so different and changed from the world I live in now. So does one person have the power to permanently change the world? I'm not sure that one person can permanently change the world, but they can change it for a time. And there's always this kind of like portion pull of history and forces throughout the world. I feel like we're moving into an era of huge powerful singular actors and you know, seizing pain, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, it's their world, we just live in it. That's it for today's speculation episode of The Global Story. The producers were Zandra Ellen and Sam Chantrasek and the executive producer was James Shield. The mix was by Travis Evans. Our senior news editor is China Collins and I'm Tristan Redmond. And I'm Asma Khalid and one quick note before we wrap up, we would love to hear from you all about the people and stories that you think we should be watching in 2026. You can email us at The Global Story at BBC.com. You feel free to call us out when, for example, Spain have not won the World Cup in July. I invite you to. Thanks as always for listening and we'll talk to you again tomorrow. Sackhorses, Portboxer, Legendarsen, Mukawat.