Trump's deep obsession: Winning a Nobel Peace Prize

Zoom in: Talk of the prize is increasingly shaping how administration officials talk about the president at a time when he's seeking to end the fighting in Ukraine and Gaza.

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News in February that Trump deserves a Nobel for his work in trying to end the Russia-Ukraine war. "If it were fairly awarded, I think in a year, he should get it from what I've seen," Bessent said.
• New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump's nominee to be his United Nations ambassador, used her speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last week to call for Trump to win the Nobel. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz did so as well.
• "By the end of this all, we're going to have the Nobel Prize sitting next to the name of Donald J. Trump," Waltz said.

Reality check: Trump's ability to win a Nobel will hinge in no small part on whether he can end the fighting in Ukraine. And Friday's explosive meeting — which culminated in Trump kicking Zelensky out of the White House, and horrified the U.S.'s European allies — could throw a massive wrench into things.

• Trump longs for the validation of a Nobel prize, but even before Friday's televised melee he doubted that the committee that awards it — which is appointed by Norway's parliament — would ever give him one.

The backstory: In his frustration, Trump has criticized the Nobel committee for awarding the prize to former President Obama. Just a few months into his presidency in 2009, Obama was honored for his push to curb nuclear weapons and improve relations with the Muslim world.

• Trump said in 2019 that he should get the prize "for a lot of things, if they gave it out fairly — which they don't. They gave one to Obama immediately upon his ascent to the presidency, and he had no idea why he got it.  ... That was the only thing I agreed with him on."

Trump has been nominated for a Nobel several times during his presidencies, including by Norwegian politician Christian Tybring-Gjedde and a Swedish political figure, Magnus Jacobsson, during his first term. But Trump came up empty-handed.

• More recently, Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) nominated Trump last year for brokering the Abraham Accords between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. He didn't win.

He remains focused on it.

• During an Oval Office meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month, Trump was asked by a reporter whether he hopes to get a Nobel Peace Prize if he helps end the war in Gaza.
• "I deserve it," he said again, " but they would never give it to me."

State of play: This year Trump has been nominated for the prize once more. Anat Alon-Beck, an Israeli-born professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, last month submitted a letter to the Nobel committee advocating for Trump.

• Alon-Beck's nomination, filed just before the Jan. 31 deadline, argued that Trump should win a Nobel based on his early work toward securing a peace deal in the Middle East.

• "By securing the release of hostages, standing firm against antisemitism, and fostering historic agreements that bring stability to the world's most volatile regions, [Trump] has once again demonstrated why he is a deserving recipient," Alon-Beck wrote.
• Alon-Beck said in an interview that she hadn't been in contact with the White House about the two-page letter she sent to the Nobel committee.
• A Ukrainian politician, Oleksandr Merezhko. also nominated Trump for the prize.

The White House didn't respond to requests for a comment. But Trump advisers and others close to his team believe his Nobel case would be boosted if he helps end the war in Gaza and gets a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel that also includes a breakthrough toward a Palestinian state.

• Trump has floated a controversial proposal to remove nearly 2 million Palestinians from war-torn Gaza and relocate them to "better housing" in Egypt or Jordan — neither of which seem inclined to go along that plan.

What they're saying: Critics of Trump's foreign policy say he doesn't deserve a Nobel because it's not clear he'll achieve lasting peace in the Middle East or between Ukraine and Russia.

• Trump's apparent embrace of Russia at the expense of Ukraine and NATO also could weigh heavily on a Norwegian jury.
• Trump "has said if Obama got one early in his term, he should too," said John Bolton, who was national security adviser during Trump's first term and now is a critic of the president.
• "I would turn it around. They should be treated equally — neither of them deserve it."

What's next: The nominating window for the 2025 Nobel prizes closed in January. The committee's website says a shortlist of nominees is being prepared. Winners will be announced in October.