Although President Donald Trump’s recent summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un didn’t actually result in clear plans for the country’s denuclearization, two Norwegian lawmakers have just nominated the president for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump was just nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. And it’s not the first time.
Two Norwegian lawmakers nominated the president for his efforts to denuclearize North Korea.
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Madeleine Ngo covers economic policy for Vox. She previously worked at the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Two members of the country’s right-leaning political party, Christian Tybring-Gjedde and Per-Willy Amundsen, nominated Trump for the 2019 award because of his efforts to secure the nuclear disarmament of North Korea, according to NRK, Norway’s state broadcasting company.
“A process is underway to ensure world peace in the future. It’s a fragile process, but we must of course do what we can to help this process yield good results. I believe we can accomplish this by sending a clear signal, namely by awarding Trump the Nobel Peace Prize,” Amundsen told NRK.
Although Trump and Kim signed a joint statement that establishes intentions to work toward peace between the two countries, there is little concrete evidence that the document will lead to complete denuclearization in the near future.
In May, 18 House Republicans also sent a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee nominating Trump for the Peace Prize, which has a history of being awarded to American statesmen, like President Barack Obama in 2009, Vice President Al Gore in 2007, and President Jimmy Carter in 2002.
Trump’s nomination comes as a surprise to some
The Peace Prize is one of five Nobel prizes and is awarded to a person who has “done the most or best work for fraternity between nations.” Anyone can be nominated for the prize.
Trump, though, frequently exchanges bellicose words with other world leaders and has alienated several US allies — making him an unconventional choice for the award. These past few months alone have been chaotic: Trump pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal, has been flirting with a trade war with China, and attacked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Twitter following the G7 (Group of Seven) meeting.
Just a few months before the Trump-Kim summit, Trump also tweeted, “North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the ‘Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.’ Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!” (The button, it turns out, is not actually real.)
So while it‘s monumental that an American president has now met face to face with a North Korean head of state, he still really has nothing of substance to show for it — and his legacy, thus far, has been marked by aggression and international isolation rather than constructive efforts toward peace.
In short, it’s probably a smidge too early to start handing Trump any awards for peace.
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