Cambodia, Israel, and Pakistan Express Intent to Nominate
Criticism: "Like Putting a Hyena in a Dog Show"
Second Place on Some Betting Sites, Following Yulia Navalnaya
AFP reported on the 3rd (local time) that U.S. President Donald Trump is obsessed with the Nobel Peace Prize, and that the Nobel Prize has become a tool for flattery in diplomacy.
Recently, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chantol announced that the government plans to nominate President Trump as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu handed President Trump a letter he had sent to the Nobel Committee recommending Trump as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize during a dinner with Trump. Pakistan also officially announced that it was nominating President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his mediation of a ceasefire with India. The leaders of five African countries?Gabon, Mauritania, Senegal, Liberia, and Guinea-Bissau?also praised President Trump during talks, saying he was fully deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt stated on July 31 that "President Trump should have already received the Nobel Peace Prize," and claimed that "since taking office, President Trump has mediated, on average, one peace agreement or ceasefire per month." She cited examples such as mediation between India and Pakistan, Cambodia and Thailand, Egypt and Ethiopia, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Serbia and Kosovo. She also mentioned the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. However, there was no mention at all of the Russia-Ukraine war or the Gaza war, which President Trump had repeatedly promised to end on his first day in office.
President Trump himself has repeatedly stated that he wants the Nobel Peace Prize. In February, he said, "I deserve to win, but they will never give it to me." In June, on his social media platform Truth Social, he complained, "No matter what I achieve in Russia-Ukraine or Israel-Iran, no matter what I do, I will never receive the Nobel Peace Prize."
However, some are vehemently opposed even to President Trump being nominated as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. Emma Shortis, an American history and politics researcher, wrote in the nonprofit media outlet The Conversation, "Nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize is like putting a hyena in a dog show."
President Trump's obsession with the Nobel Peace Prize appears to stem from his rivalry with former President Barack Obama. During last October's presidential campaign, President Trump said, "If my name were Obama, I would have received the Nobel Prize in 10 seconds."
Garrett Martin, a professor of international relations at American University, noted, "President Trump has constantly compared and competed with former President Obama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize, ever since he first considered running for president more than a decade ago." Former President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize just nine months after taking office.
The list of Nobel Peace Prize nominees is not made public unless the nominators disclose it individually, but the number of nominators is released. This year, a total of 338 people were nominated as candidates. On some betting sites, President Trump is ranked second, following Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya.
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