Trump wants to be the fifth US president to win the Nobel Peace Prize. There are obstacles

Donald Trump has made no secret of his desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize to burnish his already important legacy as president of the United States, and a lasting peace that ends the war in Gaza could be a consideration for the committee that determines the winner of the award.

British betting agency spokesman He told Newsweek Trump’s odds of winning the 2025 Peace Prize, which will be announced on Friday morning, have improved significantly in recent hours, given the flurry of activity that led to the announcement of the first phase of a ceasefire agreement to end the two-year-old war between Israel and Hamas.

This may be a case where the cliche “a fool and his money is easily parted” applies.

A spokesman for the Norwegian Nobel Institute confirmed to Agence France-Presse that the final meeting of the committee was on Monday. This meeting was the culmination of the screening process of 338 candidates this year.

Christian Berg Harpviken, secretary of the Nobel Committee, confirmed to Reuters last month that a “specific peace process” or “a new type of international agreement under development or recently adopted” are the types of things that will be taken into consideration.

But there is one problematic detail for Trump: The deadline for filing nominations was January 31, just days after he took office for his second non-consecutive term as president.

Aiming to be the fifth presidential winner

Four US presidents have previously won the Peace Prize, although Jimmy Carter’s honor came after decades of his service in the Oval Office.

Bill Clinton is not among the presidential winners, and this may be an instructive case for whether Trump will be a major contender for the peace prize in the future, based on his embryonic 20-point Middle East peace plan, which included mediation from several countries, and which, according to analysts, faces many difficult questions and obstacles.

Clinton met at a famous ceremony in 1993 as part of the Oslo Accords, attended by then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, as well as Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The Nobel Prize in 1994 was awarded to Arafat, Peres, and Rabin, and not to Clinton or to any American or Norwegian diplomat who helped mediate.

Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by an Israeli extremist angry at the rapprochement, but Clinton tried again in 2000 to broker peace, bringing Israeli and Palestinian delegations to the presidential retreat at Camp David. Although it was not an ultimately successful intervention, Clinton’s years-long effort appears to have been more involved at a detailed level than what Trump, or any president, could reasonably accomplish in just several months in office.

Claims to end the war are disputed

Trump bragged about it Ending several wars this year The number of wars ranged between six and seven and led to ridicule in some circles. Some of the “wars” mentioned by Trump appear to have been escalations, as with Thailand and Cambodia, and his specific role in mediation is ambiguous at best in some cases.

Theo Zeno, a historian and scholar at the Henry Jackson Society, a think tank specializing in foreign policy and national security, told The Associated Press this week that Trump’s efforts have not yet proven to be long-lasting.

“There is a big difference between stopping the fighting in the short term and resolving the root causes of the conflict,” Zeno said.

One of the wars cited by Trump refers to some of the most significant hostilities in several years between rivals India and Pakistan, which occurred last spring. But the Indian foreign and defense ministers refused to suggest that Trump played a significant role in their country’s withdrawal from air and ground attacks.

However, both Pakistan and Cambodia say they nominated Trump for the award – but those overtures would have come after January 31. However, it is also important to note that the Peace Prize Committee does not confirm whether someone has been nominated in a particular year until 50 years later, so it is theoretically possible for such comments to be made without corresponding procedure, as there would be no consequences for long-dead diplomats.

Benjamin Netanyahu in the summer He said he would nominate TrumpBut the Israeli prime minister primarily referred to Trump’s efforts more than four years ago as US-led rapprochement between Israel and a handful of Arab countries.

Governments are not the only ones who can nominate

Trump will not be the controversial first nominee for the Nobel Prize, as the list includes Arafat and the former chief American diplomat Henry Kissinger.

While representatives of national governments could put Trump’s name forward for consideration, it seems questionable whether other qualified candidates would do so.

the A list of those who can nominate a person or entity It includes members of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, a body that has urged Israel to prevent genocide against Palestinians in a case strongly objected to by the United States. The International Court of Justice in Trump’s first term He criticized his administration Because of its attacks on the International Criminal Court.

The list also includes members of the International Council of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. The Trump administration this year has reduced foreign and humanitarian aid, which has had a significant negative impact on women and children around the world, and has also clamped down on almost all asylum claims, with Trump previously asserting in 2023 that migrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.”

“His rhetoric does not suggest a peaceful perspective,” Nina Greger, director of the Peace Research Institute in Oslo, told The Associated Press this week.

It can also be said that Trump’s actions are inconsistent with a “peaceful perspective.” The United States has helped Israel bomb Iranian nuclear sites, and, more controversially, is currently launching strikes on boats in the Caribbean, under the pretext that ships carrying drugs are enemy combatants.

A wide range of university professors and administrators can also put forward names for consideration. But Trump likely has little support for this group, as his administration has cut research grants and variously put pressure on American post-secondary institutions over allegations that they are not combating anti-Semitism on campus or over the numbers of foreign students they accept.

Finally, the five individuals appointed by the Norwegian Parliament to lead the current committee are chaired by the president of the Norwegian branch of PEN International, a group that advocates for freedom of expression.

Trump – Which is Wednesday He has bizarrely and inconspicuously bragged about “taking away freedom of expression” — and has been accused of stifling freedom of expression as his administration has cited pro-Palestinian activism as a basis for denying visas or issuing deportations, and has responded to mostly peaceful protests against his deportation agenda by moving to send the US military to a number of US cities.