Trump wins the Nobel Peace Prize! (Maybe)
U.S. President wants the big prize, and surprisingly he’s not alone
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Steve
Norway’s finance minister’s was on a stroll when his phone rang out of the blue the other day. It was the White House calling.
Trump was on the line looking to discuss trade issues. Oh… and by the way, Trump also mentioned how much he’d like to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
One European newspaper called Trump’s ham fisted “begging” for the Peace Prize, “pathetic.”
But who knows?
Trump’s punishing tariffs have a way of focussing people’s attention. And the Nobel Prize selection committee is appointed by the Norwegian Parliament, so it’s likely not oblivious nor immune to the politics of dealing with the American President. Norwegian law professor Anta Alon-Beck said she had nominated Trump in early February, for his efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza.
Trump’s campaign for the Peace Prize
For nearly a decade, Mr. Trump has publicly and privately complained that he has yet to win the prestigious prize, says the New York Times. He has mentioned the award dozens of times in interviews, speeches and campaign rallies dating back to his first term. And as he presses for cease-fire deals in Ukraine and the Middle East, current and former advisers say the award is looming large in his mind.
“They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize,” Mr. Trump said last month during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in the Oval Office. “It’s too bad. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.”
According to the Washington D.C.-based political newspaper, The Hill, the pressure is on for Trump to win the coveted prize. Predicably, he has the support of several Republicans who have submitted nominations.
But Trump is raking up global support in his push for a Nobel Peace Prize — garnering nominations from Pakistan, Cambodia, Israel and GOP lawmakers as he touts his role in talks to end various global conflicts.
Pakistan
Newsweek says Pakistan announced on June 20 it would nominate Trump after diplomatic interactions during a May conflict between India and Pakistan that ended in a ceasefire; the Pakistan government described the nomination as recognizing his “decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership.”
Cambodia
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet announced that he nominated Trump after a July ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand that ended a five-day long clash between Thai and Cambodian forces at their long disputed border in July. The skirmish left more than 40 people dead on both sides and forced some 300,000 to flee.
“[Trump's] consistent pursuit of peace through diplomacy aligns perfectly with Alfred Nobel's vision, honoring those who have made outstanding contributions to international fraternity and the advancement of peace,” said Manet.
Armenia and Azerbaijan
Armenia and Azerbaijan publicly signaled support for a Nobel nomination for Trump after a White House summit on August 8 that culminated in a joint agreement between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Both leaders praised the U.S.-hosted framework and said they would back a nomination.
Rwanda and Gabon
Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe and Gabonese President Brice Oligui Nguema have also both publicly endorsed the idea of awarding Trump the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in helping to end a decades-long conflict between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In an interview with Breitbart News, Nduhungirehe said, “Anyone, including President Trump, who would help sizably to bring this conflict to an end deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. Absolutely.”
Hillary Clinton
If Trump is able to secure an end to the terrible war between Russia and Ukraine, then that could be a coup de grace to his efforts to win the Nobel medallion. Even Hillary Clinton said that if Mr. Trump secures an end to the war in Ukraine without Kyiv ceding territory to Russia (a very unlikely outcome, as she knows), she would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize herself.
Other U.S. Presidents who have won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Four U.S. Presidents have received the prize, the most recent of which was Barack Obama, and only three have won the Nobel while they were in office. The others are Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Jimmy Carter.
Barack Obama was only nine months into his first term when it was announced in October 2009 that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize. According to the Nobel Committee, among the reasons it gave the award to Obama was his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”. Emphasis was also given to his support - in word and deed - for the vision of a world free from nuclear weapons.
However the prize was controversial, as Obama never lived up to the high expectations of his presidency in working for peace or eliminating nuclear weapons.
“Even many of Obama’s supporters believed that the prize was a mistake,” said a former secretary to the Nobel Committee. “In that sense the committee didn't achieve what it had hoped for.”
Canada’s Lester B. Pearson won in 1957
Canada’s Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957, “for his crucial contribution to the deployment of a United Nations Emergency Force in the wake of the Suez Crisis.”
The Nobel Peace Prize recipient will be announced in October.
Leave a comment explaining your vote.
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Steve
Donald Trump does more harm than good every day. Giving him the Nobel Peace prize would destroy the significance and value of the award.
The listing of conflicts that Trump ostensibly played a decisive role in mitigating ignores the terrible destruction and criminal warring that Trump has supported and helped to worsen in the Israeli genocide in Gaza as well as in the Occupied Territories. It belies the increasing militarism that Trump is fostering in the form of upping NATO's military commitments at the expense of serving public needs, the push for the so-called Golden Dome., the provocations against Canada and Greenland. And what about his attacks against the UN's institutions and individuals who are dealing with war crimes? He is undermining the already inadequate international rules. He is increasing nuclear weapons which is all the more dangerous since NATO, since the time of that other arch-criminal Bush, has a first-strike doctrine. Awarding a Nobel Prize to a person who is making the world more unsafe and a threat to human survival is just plain madness.