3 Reasons Trump Is A Surprisingly Good Nominee for The Nobel Peace Prize
- Donald Trump has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.
- He’s not known for bringing people together, but Trump has a more than credible record to merit the nomination.
- He negotiated troop withdrawals in Afghanistan and Iraq, eased nuclear tensions with North Korea, and resisted war with Iran.
Four-term Norwegian MP Christian Tybring-Gjedde recently told Fox News he nominated President Donald Trump for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize .
His critics have described Tybring-Gjedde as a far-right politician .
The MP and NATO’s Norwegian delegation chair is stridently nationalistic, anti-immigration, and anti-Muslim.
Maybe that has more to do with nominating Trump than the reason he cited: Last month’s Israeli-UAE “peace deal” formalizing economic and strategic security cooperation between the countries .
“Trump The Peacemaker?” You Might Be Surprised
Even if jingoism is what makes Tybring-Gjedde tick, though, a broken clock is still right twice a day. For all his bluster and tough guy antics, Trump foreign policy is a record that merits serious consideration by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Let’s set politics aside for a moment. The following list of reasons why is not a partisan puff piece. Here are the receipts to prove it:
One blistering op-ed criticizing Trump’s immigration policy as more Soviet than American. Another criticizing Trump’s trade war as economically illiterate and disastrous. Even one taking Syria’s side against Israel and Trump over the Golan Heights.
Trump may have dialed partisan bickering up to an eleven, but his administration has made enormous strides toward a world free of military conflict.
For example, along with news of the Nobel Peace Prize nomination today, the world learned Trump is cutting troop levels in Iraq by half to 3,000 remaining soldiers .
On Monday, Trump roiled top military brass by accusing the Pentagon of war profiteering :
[Pentagon leaders] want to do nothing but fight wars so all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs… stay happy.
A CNN report characterized Trump’s remarks as an “unprecedented attack on military leadership” in its headline. But they echo Trump’s comments in his May 2019 Rose Garden interview with Fox News’ Steve Hilton.
A Nobel Peace Prize for Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea, and Iran
Watch a sitting US president criticize the military-industrial complex in a recorded Fox News interview last year:
The president said:
I’m the one that talks about these wars that are 19 years and people are just there. And don’t kid yourself. You do have a military-industrial complex. They do like war… I want to bring our troops back home. You have people here in Washington that never want to leave.
This aligns with the foreign policy principles Trump laid out in his 2016 America First speech :
Our goal is peace and prosperity, not war and destruction. The best way to achieve those goals is through a disciplined, deliberate, and consistent foreign policy.
According to the Nobel Prize Committee, laureates must:
…shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.
Here’s how Trump did:
1. Reducing Troop Levels in Afghanistan and Iraq
When Donald Trump took office, there were around 10,000 troops in Afghanistan and 5,000 in Iraq . Following a peace agreement between the US and Taliban on Feb 29, the US will completely withdraw by May 2021 . Trump wants it to happen by the election.
Meanwhile, troop levels in Iraq are at an all-time low since completely leaving in 2012 , and returning to fight after ISIS invaded in 2014.
2. Easing Nuclear Tensions With North Korea
The emergence of North Korea as a nuclear power is a grim 21st-century reality. It posed perhaps the most serious crisis of Donald Trump’s administration.
But the Clown-in-Chief eased tensions with wit and humor that projected strength. He dialed a nuclear crisis down to a Comedy Central roast by getting Kim Jong Un to play “the dozens” with him.
Trump bragged that the non-existent “nuclear button” on his desk is “bigger” than Kim’s, and “actually works.” He called Kim “Rocket Man.” North Korea’s leader started roasting Trump back, calling him a senile, old “dotard.” Trump fired back with fat jokes. Soon he became the first US president to ever set foot in North Korea .
3. Resisting War in Iran
Donald Trump resisted heavy pressure from top administration officials to move toward war with Iran . That includes Defense Secretary Mike Pompeo, CIA Director Gina Haspel, and former National Security Advisor John Bolton.
This conflict culminated in a canceled missile strike on Iran, and Bolton’s dismissal from the White House . Trump could have taken the US to war, but he’d rather make a deal than fight.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.
