Donald Trump’s obsession with winning the Nobel Peace Prize, and his inability to stop talking about it, is likely dragging down his chances despite getting multiple nominations, according to new reporting.
According to a report from the Washington Post, this year's prize will be announced on Friday, and betting markets are against the 79-year-old American president despite his best efforts to lobby for himself.
As the Post’s Michael Birnbaum and Dan Diamond dryly wrote, “Trump maintains he is not politicking for the prize, which he has mentioned publicly every few weeks since reclaiming the Oval Office — a habit people familiar with the award warned could hurt his chances.”
Noting that Trump recently stated that, if he doesn’t win, “it’ll be a big insult to our country, I will tell you that,” there was a feeling that the president was pressuring negotiators to wrap up the ceasefire agreement in Gaza because he felt it would help his chances, despite the Nobel committee traditionally using an end of January deadline for nominations.
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With the Post describing Trump’s attempt to sway the Nobel Committee as “naked hunger” for more accolades, observers described his desperation for the honor as unusual and unseemly.
"Trump’s not-a-campaign campaign has little precedent in the subdued world of Nobel peace picks, where five Norwegians appointed by their country’s parliament meet in conclave for months of studious deliberation. Winners almost never campaign publicly — and few lobby privately, according to people familiar with Nobel history. His public interest in the award could backfire, according to a person familiar with the operations of the prize,” the Post is reporting.
According to one insider, “The pressure from Trump is rather extraordinary and comes across not least as remarkably self-centered. That rhetoric and his whole approach must be said to collide quite dramatically with the traditions of the prize, even if that in itself may not be disqualifying.”
Nina Graeger, director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, which compiles a short list for the prize, admitted the American president did not make the cut, and noted Trump’s pressure and called it, “unprecedented, and it’s very unusual.”
Graeger did concede that, if Trump’s last-minute success in Gaza sticks he would receive consideration; however, she added, “They would also, however, look at whatever else he’s doing in the world, but at least they would have to consider him.”
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