Trump Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize After North Korea Summit
“What’s happening now is historic”
Perhaps my cynicism hadn’t fully formed when Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 because I was gob-smacked by the news. He hadn’t done a thing at that point except fuel the anti-Obamacare sentiment that led to the election of Scott Brown (R) in Massachusetts. Brown vowed to serve as the Obamacare-busting #41stVote, and deep blue Massachusetts sent him to Washington.
As we learn that President Trump has been nominated for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, I find I may again have to reevaluate my cynicism levels.
Trump’s nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize is a welcome bit of news as we navigate a new reality, a reality that has upended friendships and created an atmosphere of toxic negativity that has seeped into every aspect of our society and culture, a reality unrivaled in its toxicity . . . since Obama’s 2008 election.
A pair of Norwegian lawmakers has nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize after he signed an agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The nomination, reported by Norway’s state broadcaster, NRK, comes a little more than a month after a group of House Republicans sent a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee formally requesting that the president be nominated for the coveted prize.
The Norwegian lawmakers who nominated Trump were Christian Tybring-Gjedde and Per-Willy Amundsen of the country’s right-leaning Progress Party, which advocates for limited immigration and shrinking the size of government.
The nomination is for the 2019 prize, because nominations for this year closed in January.
Some Republicans have floated Trump’s name for the prize in recent months as he worked toward negotiations with North Korea. Those efforts materialized on Tuesday in a historic face-to-face meeting with Kim.
Even before the Singapore summit, Trump was making headway with North Korea, primarily by engaging China. His success was such that even Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said in April of this year that if Trump’s attempts at peace in the Korean peninsula succeeded, he should win the Nobel Peace Prize. Even former President Jimmy Carter recognizes Trump’s achievement and thinks Trump might win the Nobel if peace holds in Korea.
Trump is, as noted in the Washington Examiner, trying something different. Instead of banging his head against the same wall, repeating the same ineffective measures and hoping for a different result, Trump has bucked decades of failed U. S. policy with North Korea.
It remains to be seen whether or not the agreement reached by Trump and North Korea manifests the desired result, but the president has made incredible headway in a relatively short period of time.
Trump’s nomination is rooted in his involvement in an “historic peace process.”
Lawmakers Christian Tybring-Gjedde and Per-Willy Amundsen, both of the conservative Norwegian Progress Party, wrote a nominating letter calling for Trump to be given the award by the Norwegian Nobel Committee to support the “historic” peace process.
“What’s happening now is historic,” Amundsen told state broadcaster NRK. “A process is underway to ensure world peace in the future. It’s a fragile process, but we must of course do what we can to help this process bring good results. I think that we can do by sending a clear signal by giving Trump the peace prize.”
The nomination letter compares Trump’s actions to those of President Theodore Roosevelt, who they note was given the prize in 1906 for his efforts with Russia and Japan at the end of the Russian-Japanese War.
“Both President Roosevelt and President Trump show that government leaders who are not afraid to show that they are willing to use power can be tools for peace,” the letter says.
A lot can happen between now and the Nobel awards next fall, but should Trump’s work with North Korea (and China) succeed, he’ll, at least, have earned it.
My guess, however, is that if anyone wins the Nobel nod over the Korean peninsula, it will be Kim Jong-Un.
Following the #TrumpKimSummit Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump are 7/4 favourites to win the #NobelPeacePrize
? https://t.co/qXECcvkp0R pic.twitter.com/dX79HVGG5m
— William Hill (@WilliamHill) June 12, 2018
But maybe I’m just cynical.
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Comments
compares Trump’s actions to those of President Theodore Roosevelt, who they note was given the prize in 1906 for his efforts with Russia and Japan
Teddy’s prize was not for his efforts, it was for his success.
Trump’s approach here is different and seems very promising. But I won’t hail it as a success until it, well, succeeds.
I’m suspicious that certain parties want to fluff this up so that however it ends, they can claim that it was a failure because it didn’t manage to live up to their hype.
I wish the effect was to make people reflect on how they gave it to President Obama prematurely… but I highly doubt that will happen.
Still, as always, best wishes for peace on the Korean peninsula! It’s not like the S. Koreans want to conquer the North anyway.
The measure of success is found in the goal. In this case, Trump has succeeded in an accomplishment (face-to-face talk by a sitting US president with a NORK leader) that many believed so impossible to realize that others never even attempted it.
If the goal is ever-lasting world peace, well, Trump failed.
Remember, just a few weeks ago it was a hare-brained useless idea. Then when it seemed to implode, it became “Trump’s failure.” If it was a failure to not accomplish the goal of having the talk, having the talk must be recognized as an accomplishment.
“ever-lasting world peace” implies a time factor. To say it’s “failed” in less than 96 hours, is quite premature and silly.
Standing next to the President of the US and having the NK flag next to ours was a goal of a pariah regime.
Kim returned prisoners. Prisoners were returned during both the Clinton and Obama administrations.
But I do appreciate the change in approach. First you ratchet up the tensions to a whole new level with personal insults and threats. Then you take credit for what a SK President, elected on the promise of easing tensions with his northern neighbor, starts. Then you sign a vague agreement in which neither side promises much.
I thought it was ridiculous to give it to Obama.
Like the alleged disarmament to be named at a later date, why not wait on the Nobel Committee.
Is this a Nobel Peace Prize moment? No. But, it could be one later. Anny award of the NPP should come after we have nuclear disarmament in the DPRK.
First of all, nothing that President Trump has done guarantees that the DPRK will denuclearize. All that Kim is interested in is maintaining his current status within the DPRK.
Second, the DPRK is, currently, a wholly owned subsidiary of the PRC. Kim does what the Chinese leadership tells him to do. And, if the PRC decides that an out-of-control nuclear Kim is in their best interests, that is what Kim will be. Unless he has a better alternative.
Third, If Kim opens up the DPRK to foreign investment, he could be free of the PRC. This would allow him to actually secure his position as leader of the country. South Korea is very interested in investing in a stable DPRK, with an eye to unification in 10-30 years.
Fourth, there are factions within the DPRK. Should Kim be removed from office, we could be back at the starting point again.
This is the first step in eliminating a potential threat to world peace, by dragging Kim into the 21st century, economically. If Kim is sold, and can stay in power [which the current purge of high ranking DPRK military officers suggest he is doing], then we may see a huge reduction in the threat level posed by the DPRK. It is significant as it is a radical departure from the previous 25 years of trying to buy off the Kims.
Hey, both sides hype any political action. Many of those who support trump hype this is a great accomplishment which will, undoubtedly, result in a denuclearized Korean peninsula and a responsible North Korea. The anti-Trump forces are hyping this as either no big deal or as a failure because it did not result in instant denuclearization of the DPRK. The truth is that this is the first time that the President of the US has ever sat down, in bilateral talks, with the leader of the DPRK. And, as a result, we have an agreement in principle for the DPRK to denuclearize. Now we have to see what happens. There are three major players in this; the US, the DPRK and the PRC. And, the PRC is going to use the DPRK to put pressure on the US foe trade and economic concessions. We are in the top of the second inning here. Anything can still happen. But, the situation appears more stable than a few months ago.
The person who deserves the Nobel for ending the Korean War, should it eventually happen, is none other than Dennis Rodman!
heh, certainly more deserving than zero.
The Peace Prize has been so devalued until it’s just a joke these days. Jimmy Carter? Al Gore? Yasser Arafat? Give me a f’n break…
it’s a worthless “prize”.
Obama was a recipient.
Arafat was a recipient.
Perhaps it needs to be renamed to the nobel murder prize.
And then he went and blew it all by saying something stupid like, “A Tough Guy.”
(now try to get that song out of your head) 😉
While the Nobel Peace Prize has lost a bit of its prestige over the years, it still is a good idea for Trump to be given it, especially after Obama was given it for no real
reason. The guy did little or no work.
The only reason that Obama was given the prize was race. Call Obama’s an affirmative prize.
The only good thing that came from Obama’s reign is that it drove Trump’s win.
It seems that someone, soon rather than later, will inject race where it is completely irrelevant.
The part I don’t understand is why such people object to being called racists.
In the spirit of the comment, Trump’s primary virtue may turn out to be putting a stake in the heart of a reactionary movement – Quite possibly after 1 term.
Grifter, you most certainly act like a racist, yet are incapable of seeing that this is the case.
A day later, and the story is still not to be found in the New York Times.
Will their excuse be that it happened after their bureau chief’s bedtime?
Many times there have been multiple winners.
I vote for the KDD Nobel award—-Kim, Dennis, Donald.
I agree with snopercod that the Peace Prize has become just a meaningless bit of theater.
But can I just say how much I’d LOVE IT if Obama had that bit of his “legacy” diluted, as well?
“But, but, but,…I won the Nobel Peace Prize, guys, and Evil Trump can’t top THAT. Wait? What?…”
Nomination for this prize is even more meaningless than winning it. At least winning it takes something; there is a committee that chooses the winner, and it has criteria for whom it wants to choose. Bad, stupid, wrong, arbitrary criteria, but criteria nonetheless. Being nominated takes absolutely nothing. Anyone can nominate anyone, for any reason or none.
The world doesn’t swing by who wins or doesn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize, but it still carries some prestige. I think the committee knows they need to make some moves to prop up their poor record.
I can see Trump winning it if only to have the selection committee looking less biased and out of touch. It would have the additional benefit of having the leftists’ heads exploding. That along with watching how the media will spin it as a useless and meaningless award would make for good theater.
At least Trump is far more deserving of it than his predecessor, though it still doesn’t make up for the abysmal failure so many of their selections have been.
When the Nobel committee gave the Peace Prize to Obama they permanently destroyed the reputation of the prize. They are nothing but political hacks.