Opinion: Trump shouldn’t win the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize
Diplomatic is not a word that most Americans, including myself, would attribute to President Trump.
However, Christian Tybring-Gjedde, a Norwegian politician, nominated him for the 2021 Nobel Peace prize for his role in negotiating the Abraham Accords between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Soon after Tybirng-Gjedde announced his nomination, Swedish politician Magnus Jacobsson announced that he had also nominated Trump. In the end of September, a group of Australian law professors gave him a third nomination.
Despite this, Trump seems to be confused on how exactly the Nobel Peace Prize works, and has even claimed he would get it for many things “…if they gave it out fairly, which they don’t.” He seems to believe that he will receive two Nobel Peace Prizes since he was nominated twice, as he claimed “…in one week they nominated me, not for one, but for two Nobel prizes” at a North Carolina rally in September.
Being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize is very different from actually winning, and there are many more arguably qualified nominees for 2021 such as Greta Thunberg or Bill Gates. However, Trump should not be nominated for the prize based on his diplomatic abilities as Tyrbing-Gjedde and Jacobsson claim.
Firstly, Trump has reversed much of the good relations established with Cuba under the Obama Administration, such as increasing the economic and travel bans between Cuba and the United States. Additionally, he suspended most of the US Embassy’s functions in Cuba in 2017.
Secondly, in 2018 the Trump Administration withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal in order to negotiate a better one. Shockingly, that didn’t pan out and Iran started developing nukes again. The Trump Administration continuously sanctioned Iran. Additionally, the proposal of a new deal from the US only garnered support from the Dominican Republic among a 15-country panel. The panel eventually told the US to back off in October of 2018.
Thirdly, Trump’s remarks about China in regards to the pandemic have been less than flattering. Referring to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus” did nothing to help the terrible relations we have with them. He even has said that he has stopped thinking about reaching a new trade deal with them because “They could have stopped the plague… they didn’t stop it.” This indicates that he used the COVID virus as a way to avoid fixing the disastrous impacts he’s had on US-China relations.
These are just a few examples of Trump’s failed diplomatic efforts, and awarding his only successful one will only inflate his ego more. It’s hard to remember amidst all of the chaos of the pandemic, but Trump almost walked the US and the rest of the world into world conflict with Iran through his reckless diplomatic strategy back in January.
Encouraging and rewarding this kind of behavior could lead to similar conflicts.
Trump has shown that he cannot improve less than ideal relations with other countries, which is clear to see when looking at the diplomatic relationships of the US with Iran, China, and Cuba. Because of this, he should not receive a Nobel Peace Prize on the basis of his diplomatic skills.
Ella Olson is an opinion writer at the Statesman. She’s originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota and enjoys reading, debate, and hammocking.
ella.olson@usu.edu
If it was “Piece” prize he should get it for all he has done is made everything go to “pieces”
No, he is not worthy of recognition of the Nobel Peace Prize. (he wants it cause Obama got it). He is not knowing what the Nobel stands for. His nomination makes a mockery of Nobel.
I get that many people at my alma mater are all pretty left leaning. I was amongst them every day as they spewed their toxic rhetoric about people with opposing viewpoints. This is one time when I say toxic that it takes on literal meaning. It was very difficult to come in with an opposing point of view and not be talked down to. I had one left-leaning professor that gave me a fair hearing. When I hear of media explaining their reasons to hate Trump, I cringe hard. Brokering a peace deal at all is an amazing accomplishment for an area that otherwise has refused. The fact that peace is politicisized is disgusting. It doesn’t show care and compassion, it reveals an agenda to push others to think as you do to get gain in your own grandiose schemes. Stop pushing the leftist dogma. Mainstream media, all of it, is nothing more than propaganda and you as journalists should be ashamed of allowing your own particianship blind you to your purpose. You are capable of a lot of greater things than demonizing an individual that you disagree with. Aim higher and and exercise professional integrity.