Now, where’s my prize?

Hello, there,

Donald Trump is totally OK with not getting a Nobel peace prize. We know that because he said so, in a sprawling Truth Social post over the weekend.

Trump claimed to have stopped a war between India and Pakistan – India’s prime minister says the US had no role in easing the conflict – and waffled about the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda, and Serbia, and Kosovo, and Ethiopia, and Egypt. He then complained, five times: “I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize.”

He concluded: “But the people know, and that’s all that matters to me!”

Trump’s post certainly seemed like the kind of thing one would expect from a person for whom it really mattered that they get a Nobel peace prize. “He’s obsessed with the fact that Mr Obama got it and he didn’t,” a former senior White House official from Trump’s first term told NBC, which will come as no surprise to anyone who has followed Trump’s long-time fixation with the 44th president.

If Trump does want the prize (he does), then he is taking an unusual approach, given the award is not typically awarded to people who have just attacked a foreign country. Especially not when Iran was still seeking negotiation with the US even after having just been attacked by Israel.

Trump, the great peacemaker, claimed over the weekend that the strikes had “totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites and set the country’s alleged nuclear weapon program back “decades”. The Nobel aspirant added that the US attacks were “essentially the same thing” as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (In a neat irony, last year the Nobel peace prize was awarded to a group that represents survivors of those bombings.)

Trump’s claims of huge success were almost immediately contradicted, however, by a leaked government report saying the strikes had only set Iran’s nuclear program back a few months.

But hey, Trump is the leader, and what he says goes. Pete Hegseth, Trump’s jock defense secretary, and Marco Rubio, the increasingly emasculated secretary of state, lined up to trot out the same line as their boss, with Hegseth claiming that Trump’s “bold and visionary leadership” had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Trump’s confused bid for peace has not been well-received at home. A majority of Americans disapprove of the US attacking Iran, according to multiple polls, while fully 79% of Americans say they are worried Iran may retaliate against US civilians.

In a further blow, a Ukrainian lawmaker who nominated Trump for a Nobel peace prize withdrew the nomination on Tuesday. Oleksandr Merezhko told Newsweek he had “lost any sort of faith and belief” in Trump and his ability to secure a ceasefire. Meanwhile on Monday, Pakistan condemned Trump for bombing Iran, less than 24 hours after saying it planned to nominate him for the peace prize.

At least Trump’s fanboys are backing the ruse. Lindsay Graham, the Republican senator, said Trump deserves “a Nobel Peace Prize on steroids”, whatever that means, while Buddy Carter, an oddball Republican representative from Georgia (in February, he introduced a bill to name Greenland to “Red, white and blueland”), is also on board. On Tuesday, the self-described “Maga warrior” took a break from tweeting about trans people to nominate Trump for that Nobel peace prize, hailing Trump’s “bold actions to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions”, in a letter that Trump quickly shared on Truth Social.

The only problem? The deadline for 2025 nominations was 31 January. Sorry, Buddy!

Trump is known for his distinctive power-handshake. It’s a move that involves the dominant handshaker yanking their co-shaker towards them the second they grasp hands, like someone pulling open a heavy door.

The 79-year-old president has deployed it against world leaders and cabinet members alike. It probably reveals as much about Trump’s insecurity as it does his alpha status, but nevertheless he has stuck with it for years.

So you’d have thought Trump would have been upset on Tuesday, when the king of the Netherlands used his own move against him: Willem-Alexander hauled Trump towards him when they met at the Nato summit. But the US president, who has an odd fascination with royalty, seemed to have gotten over it by Wednesday, when he described the Dutch king and queen as “beautiful and spectacular people” in remarks to reporters.

Maybe that rare bout of being diplomatic is all part of Trump’s cunning plan to get the Nobel peace prize. The one he definitely isn’t bothered about receiving.