Trump misses the Nobel again

Summary

• President Trump has made no secret of his desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
• I believe the Nobel Peace Prize should recognise more than the ability of powerful leaders to announce diplomatic successes.
• I do not know whether Trump will ever win the Nobel Peace Prize.

AI Generated Summary

There is a little (or big) problem with being Donald Trump. You can be the president of the United States, command the attention of the world and believe that you deserve almost every prize on earth. But there is one small detail. You cannot simply award the prize to yourself.

The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize has gone to Navi Pillay. She is an 85-year-old South African lawyer and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. And, if you ask me, this time the Nobel Committee has made a choice that is difficult to argue against.

Pillay has spent decades defending human rights, challenging racial injustice and promoting international law. Her life story is not about collecting awards. It is about doing difficult work, often against powerful people.

President Trump has made no secret of his desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He has repeatedly spoken about his efforts to settle international conflicts and argued that his achievements deserve recognition.

He has also received nominations from political supporters and foreign leaders. Pakistan’s government, for example, backed his candidacy, crediting him with helping reduce tensions between Pakistan and India.

But there is an important distinction: there is no publicly verified evidence that Trump formally nominated himself. Nobel nominations are kept secret for 50 years. Still, his public campaign for the prize has made the subject difficult to ignore.