Trump rages over Nobel Peace Prize loss
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President Trump at a Texas rally. Photo: Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images
President Trump lashed out late Friday night after he once again did not win the Nobel Peace Prize he has openly coveted.
Why it matters: The award is Trump's white whale, an honor he talks about frequently and believes he deserves.
- This year's prize went instead to a former judge of a court Trump has sanctioned and called "rogue" and "evil."
- Navi Pillay, the winner, reacted to the award by saying world leaders have a "legal obligation to protect human rights and refrain from war," according to the AP.
What he's saying: "I know nothing about this woman, and neither does anyone else! In fact, to the best of my knowledge, no one ever heard of her other than the fact that she, very obviously, hates Israel. I don't know what the woman has done," Trump said in a Truth Social post of nearly 600 words that went up just before midnight on Friday.
- "I settled 8 Wars, with letters being sent from every President and Prime Minister from the countries that I helped to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and I'm about to settle, or win, two more, Iran and, Russia/Ukraine," Trump wrote.
- "They're both happening at breakneck speed but, forget them, it's the 8 that I've already settled, any one of which, in particular, Pakistan and India, would be far more than necessary to win the Nobel Prize. In actuality, I should have won 8 Nobel Peace Prizes, not just 1."
Between the lines: Pillay, this year's winner, is a former judge of the International Criminal Court and also the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
- Nobel officials said she received the honor "for her efforts to promote peace and international law."
- Originally from South Africa, Pillay, 85, also served as chair of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Zoom in: Trump took aim at that UN association as well.
- "In all of the Wars that I have settled, I never spoke to the United Nations—they were of no help. The United States of America, represented by me, as your President, should have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but didn't," he said.
The intrigue: Trump also blasted Norway, as he's previously done over Nobel snubs, though the country doesn't award the prize.
- "This is an indelible stain on Norway, one that will never be forgotten. The Nobel 'Peace' Prize has been forever discredited by a handful of Radical Ideologues who are Anti-Democracy, and Enemies of Civilization!"
The bottom line: The president didn't hold back making his case for why he should have won — and why his loss was a personal snub.
