Trump Bullies His Way to Nobel Prize
Trump Wages War To Get Peace (Award)
Sometimes, when writing about this administration's foreign policy escapades, it feels as though I'm writing satire.
This is one of those times...
At midnight on Friday, June 20, a group of B-2 stealth bombers took off from an Air Force base near Kansas City, Missouri.
Some flew west, acting as decoys. The remainder flew east, ultimately dropping 14 bunker-buster bombs and two dozen Tomahawk missiles on multiple targets at the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities in Iran.
Trump chose to announce the strikes on Iran via his Truth Social platform, which is how many elected officials—including Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, ranking member of the House Intelligence Community—first learned of them.
At the White House on Saturday night, wearing his trademark “Make America Great Again” baseball cap and flanked by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Vice President J.D. Vance, Trump described the strikes as a "spectacular military success" and warned of "far greater" attacks if Iran did not "make peace."
Trump then returned to his preferred form of foreign diplomacy on Saturday: his Truth Social platform. “Congratulations to our great American Warriors. There is not another military in the World that could have done this,” he claimed modestly.
Many leaders, foreign and domestic, declined to share Trump’s bullish opinion on the strikes.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said he was "gravely alarmed" by the American use of force, calling the U.S. strikes a "dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge, and a direct threat to international peace and security."
Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Republican, pointed out on X that Congress "has the sole authority to authorize war" and should have been called back from vacation before the attack.
Christiane Amanpour of CNN warned of the potential dire consequences, of the action, saying that no military solution is feasible and that the situation requires diplomacy.
Many diplomats, including former U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry, who was the key U.S. negotiator in the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal, agreed.
And, of course, there’s the bothersome fact that Trump withdrew from the Iran Nuclear Deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018.
Signed on July 14, 2015, the deal was agreed to by Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the U.S.—as well as Germany and the European Union. The JCPOA imposed restrictions on Iran’s civilian nuclear enrichment program in exchange for sanctions relief.
The JCPOA was designed to ensure that Iran’s nuclear program would be exclusively peaceful and provided for the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions in order to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
“NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!” he ordered Israel and Iran via social media, his tool of preference for diplomatic negotiations. And then, as though signing off on a corporate memo, he added, “Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
After the bombings, Trump continued to badger Iran in follow-up posts.
“This is an HISTORIC MOMENT FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ISRAEL, AND THE WORLD,” he added. “IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR. THANK YOU!”
On Monday, June 23, mere hours after Iran fired missiles at a U.S. base in Qatar, Trump claimed that Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire.
On Tuesday, Trump escalated his rhetoric against Iran, issuing a threat on social media against its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there—We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now," Trump boasted.
Trump seems to believe that he can bomb, bully, and threaten other nations into peace.
On Tuesday, as the two countries continued to attack one another, Trump lost his cool in front of the press before boarding Air Force One for the NATO summit in the Netherlands.
“They’ve been fighting for so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f—k they’re doing,” he fumed, becoming the first U.S. president to use the f-bomb openly in a public statement.
Then on Wednesday, after renewing his attempts to take credit for an Israel-Iran ceasefire, Trump posted offensive footage of a few B2 stealth fighter jets dropping bombs, while “Bomb Iran,” a parody of the Beach Boy’s song “Barbara Ann,” played in the background.
Remarkably, behind Trump’s boorish behavior masks an ulterior motive: winning the Nobel Peace Prize. (Yes, you read that right: the Nobel Prize for peace.)
Trump has publicly and privately complained—inexplicably, I hardly need to add—that he has yet to win the coveted prize.
He has referenced the award numerous times in interviews, speeches, and campaign rallies dating back to his first term.
In his inaugural address this year, he announced that his “proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier.”
In many ways, Trump’s public jockeying for the prize reflects his focus on accolades, praise and acceptance—and, perhaps most importantly, a burning desire to best and belittle his predecessors. It irks him that Barack Obama won the prize for confronting the “great climatic challenges,” a decision that engendered global controversy.
Many say the Nobel award is top of mind for Trump as he resorts to his signature geopolitical maneuver: browbeating nations toward cease-fire deals in Ukraine, the Middle East, and Asia.
Last Friday, mere hours before bombing Iran’s nuclear sites, Trump complained (on Truth Social, naturally) about the “injustice” behind his lack of selection for the award.
"I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do,” he griped, “including Russia/Ukraine, and Israel/Iran, whatever those outcomes may be, but the people know, and that's all that matters to me."
Trump and his staff apparently missed the memo that the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”
Said criteria do not include threatening the annexation of foreign countries (Canada and Greenland), approving the annexation of others (Russia’s annexation of parts of Ukraine), falsely accusing an ally (South Africa) of genocide against a privileged white population, the cessation of medical aid (global), the enabling of genocide (by both Israel and Russia), taking the side of an imperial aggressor (as he has done with Israel and Russia), or proposing to build a Trump Tower on the ruins of Gaza, where Israel is currently starving its population.
The criteria would certainly disqualify an aspirant who facilitated the illegal abduction and deportation of U.S. residents, with neither cause nor due process, to life-threatening conditions at the LaSalle Detention Center in Jena, Louisiana, the CECOT maximum security prison in El Salvador, or South Sudan, where a genocide is occurring.
Note: According to Genocide Watch, conflict in South Sudan has resulted in 2.4 million refugees, 2.3 million internally displaced persons, 9.4 million people requiring humanitarian assistance, and 7.1 million people facing acute food insecurity. Mass rape and gender-based violence are common. On June 23, the United States Supreme Court granted Trump’s emergency request to deport U.S. migrants to countries other than their homeland, including those in grave conflict or crisis, such as South Sudan.
And, it must be said, there is no record of a Nobel laureate who is publicly known to have been convicted of, admitted to, or boasted about his history of sexual assault.
Had he bothered even to read the Peace Prize criteria, Trump might have avoided an inexcusable diplomatic gaffe.
Speaking alongside NATO secretary general Mark Rutte at this week’s NATO summit, Trump (favorably, no less) compared the U.S. strikes on Iran to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by U.S. forces in 1945.
“This was essentially the same thing,” he said. “That ended that war; this ended the war.” (Translation: The U.S. attacks on Iran ended the Israel-Iran conflict, i.e. the two countries would still be fighting if the United States had not bombed the nuclear facilities.)
By way of explanation, the atomic bomb that the U.S. detonated over the center of Hiroshima instantly killed more than 70,000 men, women, and children.
According to Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the archival record illuminates that the primary purpose of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima was not to bring about peace, but rather to kill large numbers of civilians. Such a nuclear attack, scholars say, would be illegal today. It would violate three major requirements of the law of armed conflict codified in Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions: the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution.
And, as it turns out, the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Hibakusha, the grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The group won the prize for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons, and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.
Trump’s comments, justifying the world's first use of nuclear weapons on a civilian population in Japan, provoked an angry outcry from survivors of the bombings of the Japanese cities.
Teruko Yokoyama, 83, a senior member of the Nihon Hidankyo group that received the 2024 award, responded to the thoughtless comparison. "I'm really disappointed. All I have is anger," Yokoyama said.
Undeterred—and, as always, unaware—Trump and his cabinet continued their lobby for the Nobel Prize this week.
Speaking live from The Hague, the site of the NATO summit, Marco Rubio was appropriately obsequious. “I know of no president, probably in our modern history, that has sought peace more than he has,” Rubio announced without a trace of irony.
Steven Cheung, White House communications director, added his own hyperbolic two cents. “The Nobel Peace Prize is illegitimate if President Trump—the ultimate peace president—is denied his rightful recognition of bringing harmony across the world,” Cheung said in a statement.
While at the NATO summit, Trump reported a sea change in his view of NATO.
For years, he has criticized other members of the alliance and said they weren’t paying their fair share. Now, it appears. lavish praise from world leaders and their vows to increase military spending have won him over.
“Almost every one of them said, ‘Thank God for the United States,’” he said.
He added: “I left here differently. I left here saying that these people really love their countries. It’s not a rip-off, and we’re here to help them protect their country.”
What could have catalyzed such a change of… heart in the president?
Trump, it seems, reveled in his experience at The Hague. This was, no doubt, due to rhe royal welcome given him from the Royal Family of The Netherlands.
Trump stayed at Huis Ten Bosch Palace, one of the Royal Family’s many residences. Honor guards could be seen rolling up a red carpet in front of the presidential limo after President Trump arrived at the palace on Tuesday. Liveried footmen dressed in navy and Trump’s favorite color, gold, opened the limo door for him. (The White House proudly displays a video of his welcome.)
He complimented the Netherlands’ trees—saying, “I want to bring some back with me.”
He was absolutely smitten, however, by King Willem Alexander and Queen Máxima of The Netherlands and their 21-year-old daughter, Princess Catharina Amalia, who is first in line to the Dutch throne.
The Royal Family are tall, white, blond, conventionally attractive, and regal—all qualities that Trump values highly. (Thankfully, he refrained from saying that he wished to bring the King’s wife or daughter home with him.)
“It was a big success,” Trump enthused to members of the press. “You had great people here, everybody showed up. They were all the prime ministers and the presidents and the kings and the queens, right? And I actually had breakfast today with a king and a queen who were beautiful, beautiful people, central casting I must say, very nice.
It should be said that His Royal Highness (the King, not Trump) won the handshake contest using Trump’s own signature maneuver: The King deployed his strength of grip to pull Trump toward him, forcing Trump to take several steps forward.
This was the first time a U.S. President has ever been welcomed to The Hague. (And in Trump's case, one can hope, it won't be his last time at the Hague.)
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Unaccountably, despite his routinely bellicose persona, Trump has been nominated for the Nobel several times. (The Norwegian Nobel committee rules permit nominations from members of national assemblies and national governments, university professors in specific fields, and members of certain international institutions.)
While he has not won, this week Trump earned an unprecedented accomplishment in relation to the Nobel Peace Prize.
He became the only president in history to gain and lose a Nobel Peace Prize nomination in a single day.
Republican representative Buddy Carter of Georgia nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in “brokering” this week’s “ceasefire agreement” between Iran and Israel. The South Georgia congressman recently announced a run for U.S. Senate next year; he hopes to face incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff. He is also a practiced presidential sycophant: Earlier this year, he made headlines for introducing legislation to authorize the president to acquire Greenland and rename it “Red, White, and Blueland.”
Meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian lawmaker who nominated Trump for the Peace Prize has withdrawn his nomination as peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow have failed.
Oleksandr Merezhko, the head of Ukraine’s parliamentary foreign committee, told Newsweek on Tuesday he had “lost any sort of faith and belief” in Trump and his ability to secure the promised cessation of hostilities.
The withdrawals may not end there.
In Pakistan, where the government had formally nominated the U.S. president for the peace prize for his intervention in the nation’s hostilities with India, many are having second thoughts. Lawmakers, activists, authors and former diplomats criticized the government for the nomination after Trump’s strikes on Iran.
These nominations are extremely discomfiting to me, as it points to the fawning behavior that an authoritarian bully can command, even from the leaders of other sovereign nations. That those nations are trying to intuit how to please this bully of a foreign leader to ensure their people's safety replicates the dynamics of dysfunctional, abuse-ridden family systems.
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POSTSCRIPT: According to the U.S. media, intelligence assessments say that the strikes only set back Iran's nuclear capabilities by a few months.
Earlier this year, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that according to the Annual Threat Assessment, Iran was years away from acquiring nuclear weapons of their own.
Trump, of course, denied this.
And finally, on June 22, a report from the New York Times suggested that Trump's decision to strike Iran was based not on intelligence, but rather on the wall-to-wall coverage he saw on Fox News.
Sources:
At midnight on Friday, June 20, a group of B-2 stealth bombers took off: Hernandez, J. (2025, June 23). 4 things to know about the U.S. airstrikes on Iran. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/06/23/nx-s1-5441791/takeaways-us-airstrikes-iran-nuclear-trump
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said he was "gravely alarmed" by: António Guterres [@antonioguterres]. (2025, June 22). I am gravely alarmed by the use of force by the United States against Iran today. This is a dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security. There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of [Tweet]. Twitter. https://x.com/antonioguterres/status/1936603735330898368
Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky: Hernandez, J. (2025, June 23). 4 things to know about the U.S. airstrikes on Iran. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/06/23/nx-s1-5441791/takeaways-us-airstrikes-iran-nuclear-trump
On Friday, hours before bombing Iran’s nuclear sites, Trump complained: Donald Trump’s Chances of Winning Nobel Peace Prize Skyrocket—Newsweek. (n.d.). Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trumps-chances-winning-nobel-peace-prize-skyrocket-2090658
At the White House on Saturday night, Trump, wearing his trademark: Donald Trump’s Chances of Winning Nobel Peace Prize Skyrocket—Newsweek. (n.d.). Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trumps-chances-winning-nobel-peace-prize-skyrocket-2090658
Trump continued to badger Iran in a follow-up: Trump navigates the most complex foreign policy crisis of his presidency, one ‘Truth’ at a time. (2025, June 25). NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-engages-truth-social-diplomacy-iran-crisis-rcna214719
In his inaugural address early this year, Trump announced that: Pager, T. (2025, March 24). Trump’s Nobel Prize Obsession Is About More Than World Peace. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/us/politics/trump-nobel-peace-prize.html
South Sudan, where a genocide is occurring: South Sudan. (n.d.). Genocidewatch. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://www.genocidewatch.com/country-pages/south-sudan
According to Genocide Watch, conflict in South Sudan has resulted: Fritze, A. F. D., John. (2025, June 23). Supreme Court allows Trump to remove migrants to South Sudan and other turmoil-filled countries | CNN Politics. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/23/politics/supreme-court-migrants-south-sudan-turmoil-filled-countries
The Nobel Committee awards the Peace Prize to: Royen, U. (2018, July 5). Nomination and selection of Nobel Peace Prize laureates. NobelPrize.Org. https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/peace/
According to Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies: Why the atomic bombing of Hiroshima would be illegal today. (2020, July 20). https://fsi.stanford.edu/news/why-atomic-bombing-hiroshima-would-be-illegal-today
In fact, in 2024, the Prize was awarded to Hibakusha, the grassroots movement of: 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. (2025). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2024_Nobel_Peace_Prize&oldid=1295635115
Speaking alongside NATO secretary general Mark Rutte at this week’s summit: Guardian News (Director). (2025, June 25). Trump compares US strikes on Iran to Hiroshima: “This ended the war” [Video recording].
Trump’s comments, justifying the world's first use of nuclear weapons on a civilian: NEWS, K. (n.d.). Trump likens U.S. strikes on Iran to bombings of Hiroshima, Nagasaki. Kyodo News+. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2025/06/dec6b9955cd9-update1-trump-likens-us-strikes-on-iran-to-bombings-of-hiroshima-nagasaki.html
“Almost every one of them said, ‘Thank God for the United States,’” he said: Romm, T. (2025, June 25). President Calls for Shuttering Voice of America. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/26/us/trump-news
Honor guards could be seen rolling up a red carpet: The Royal Family Channel (Director). (2025, June 25). Trump’s Royal Visit: First US President Welcomed to King’s Residence [Video recording].
“It was a big success,” Trump enthused to members of the press: https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-remarks-bilat-dick-schoof-netherlands-june-25-2025/
Republican representative Buddy Carter of Georgia nominated Trump: Kilgore, E. (2025, June 24). Trump Gains and Loses Nobel Peace Prize Nomination in One Day. Intelligencer. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-gains-loses-nobel-peace-prize-nomination.html
The South Georgia congressman recently announced a run: Kilgore, E. (2025, June 24). Trump Gains and Loses Nobel Peace Prize Nomination in One Day. Intelligencer. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-gains-loses-nobel-peace-prize-nomination.html
Meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian lawmaker who nominated Trump: Donald Trump Nobel Peace Prize nomination withdrawn. (2025, June 24). Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-nobel-peace-prize-nomination-withdrawn-ukraine-russia-2089818
And in Pakistan, lawmakers, activists, authors and former diplomats criticized: Baloch, S. M. (2025, June 25). Pakistan debates Trump Nobel peace prize nomination after US strikes on Iran. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/25/pakistan-trump-nobel-peace-prize-nomination-iran-strikes
Earlier this year, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified: Schneid, R. (2025, June 21). Trump’s Public Rebuke of Tulsi Gabbard’s Statement on Iran. TIME. https://time.com/7296421/trump-public-rebuke-tulsi-gabbard-iran-nuclear-weapon-statement/
On June 22, a report from the New York Times suggested that Trump's decision: New reporting: How Fox News influenced Trump’s decision to strike Iran. (n.d.). MSNBC.Com. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/new-reporting-how-fox-news-influenced-trump-s-decision-to-strike-iran-242135621519 See also: Schmitt, M. M. S. H., & Cooper, H. (2025, June 23). Shifting Views and Misdirection: How Trump Decided to Strike Iran. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/us/politics/trump-iran-decision-strikes.html