Conservative stings Trump with ‘Nobel War Prize’ nomination

President Donald Trump was “desperate” for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2025, noted a prominent right-leaning commentator on Thursday — but now he has proved just how unworthy of that honor he truly was.

“With the Middle East in flames, President Donald Trump’s desperate lobbying campaign for the Nobel Peace Prize looks ever more bizarre,” wrote Doug Bandow, Senior Fellow at the right-leaning think tank the Cato Institute, for The American Conservative. “Of course, his claim to have ended and prevented numerous wars is more fantasy than reality.”

Bandow pointed out that Trump’s surprising bombing of Iran during peace negotiations on two occasions reveals that he cannot be trusted to pursue peace. His proposed massive military buildup further demonstrates the insincerity of his earlier claims to be a peacemaker.

“He has ostentatiously flouted Alfred Nobel’s desire to reward those who did ‘the most or the best work within the past year for building fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies,’” Bandow opined. “Rather, the president has threatened to commit war crimes, wreck countries, and destroy civilizations.”

Bandow then joked that Trump should be awarded a so-called “Nobel War Prize,” one that could have been given to past world leaders (including American presidents) for their abundant war crimes. Among Trump’s presidential predecessors, Bandow included Woodrow Wilson (for lying about keeping America out of World War I), Lyndon Johnson (for escalating America’s involvement in Vietnam), Richard Nixon (for likewise escalating in Vietnam), Ronald Reagan (for miring America in the Lebanese Civil War), George W. Bush (for his wars in Afghanistan and Iraq) and Barack Obama (for his military interventions in Syria and Libya).

“President Trump obviously is not the worst militaristic offender,” Bandow wrote. “But he need not despair. His misbegotten attack on Iran would still place a Nobel War Prize within reach. Better, however, for him to repent and promote peace, putting America first. Americans elected Donald Trump to represent them, not another government.”

He concluded, "And what they—we—most need is peace. Starting in the Middle East.”

Trump himself has admitted that his unprovoked wars against Venezuela and Iran will likely make a Nobel Peace Prize impossible for him. Last month he told the Washington Examiner that “I’m not interested in it” and “I don’t talk about the Nobel Prize” with other world leaders.

The Examiner’s Christian Datoc, who spoke to Trump, reported via video that the president “appears to be having a massive about-face about winning the Nobel Peace Prize amid his war with Iran.”

“He told me over the phone that he’s not sure if he’s deserving of this award anymore,” Datoc explained. “This is a massive change in the president’s rhetoric from really anything he’s said over the past thirteen months.”

from Alternet.org https://ift.tt/IW9Zby5
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