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Donald Trump has ticked many boxes in his life and career: husband (three times), father (of five), (multi-)billionaire, President (twice). But he’s made clear that there’s one title he really wants but is yet to achieve: Nobel Peace Prize winner.
“They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize,” he told reporters at the White House in February as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “It’s too bad. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.”
In a gesture of support, Netanyahu, during his latest visit to the White House on Monday, presented Trump with a copy of a letter he said he sent to the Nobel Prize committee. “It’s nominating you for the Peace Prize, which is well-deserved. And you should get it,” Netanyahu said.
“Wow,” Trump responded, holding the paper Netanyahu presented him. “Coming from you, in particular, this is very meaningful. Thank you very much Bibi.”
The Nobel Peace Prize has been given nearly every year since 1901 to one or more individuals or groups deemed by a Norwegian committee to have done “the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” Recent past recipients have included Japanese anti-nuclear-weapon organization Nihon Hidankyo, Iranian human rights advocate Narges Mohammadi, and Philippine champion of democracy and freedom of the press Maria Ressa.
Trump has been fixated on the Nobel Peace Prize for years, in particular since the bestowal of the award on then-President Barack Obama during his first year in office in 2009—a move even many Obama supporters questioned and the Nobel committee secretary would later express regret about.
In 2013, after it was reported that Obama told aides, referring to drone strikes, “Turns out I’m really good at killing people. Didn’t know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine,” Trump tweeted: “Can Oslo retract prize?”
“He saw that Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize and felt if Obama got it for not doing anything, why should he not get it?” Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton told the New York Times in March.
“If I were named Obama I would have had the Nobel Prize given to me in 10 seconds,” Trump said during his reelection campaign last October. “He got the Nobel Prize. He didn’t even know what the hell he got it for. Remember, he got elected. Well so did I. He got elected and they announced he was getting the Nobel Prize.”
“He got the Nobel Prize for doing nothing, for getting elected, but I got elected too,” Trump added. “I’m just saying that there’s a lot of unfairness in this world.”
Trump has at times sounded resigned to the fact that he may never receive the prize that’s eluded him.
As recently as last month, he posted on Truth Social, after announcing the brokering of a treaty between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda: “I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for this, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for stopping the War between India and Pakistan, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for stopping the War between Serbia and Kosovo, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for keeping Peace between Egypt and Ethiopia (A massive Ethiopian built dam, stupidly financed by the United States of America, substantially reduces the water flowing into The Nile River), and I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for doing the Abraham Accords in the Middle East which, if all goes well, will be loaded to the brim with additional Countries signing on, and will unify the Middle East for the first time in ‘The Ages!’ No, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do, including Russia/Ukraine, and Israel/Iran, whatever those outcomes may be, but the people know, and that’s all that matters to me!”
Who can nominate someone for a Nobel Peace Prize?
Critics have balked at Netanyahu’s nomination of Trump. Former National Security Council spokesman during the Obama Administration Tommy Vietor posted on X: “Obviously this is pathetic a– kissing and a PR stunt, but I’d imagine that the folks who award the Nobel Peace Prize aren’t the biggest Netanyahu fans.”
Netanyahu currently stands accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity related to Israel’s 21-month (and ongoing) military campaign in Gaza, which has led to the deaths of more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to estimates.
But Netanyahu is not the first to formally nominate Trump for the honor—and likely won’t be the last.
According to the Nobel Foundation, nominators can include any head of state, national-level politician, professors of various humanities and social science disciplines, directors of peace research or foreign policy institutes, former laureates, and more, though the organization doesn’t confirm or publicize nominations.
Last month, Pakistan announced that it had nominated Trump “in recognition of his decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership during the recent India-Pakistan crisis.” Pakistan, like many countries, is currently negotiating with the Trump Administration in effort to achieve a trade deal and avoid high tariffs. Meanwhile, India has denied that the U.S. played a role in mediating the border conflict.
Also in June, Rep. Buddy Carter (R, Ga.) said that he had nominated Trump “in recognition of his historic role in brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Iran and preventing the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, from obtaining a nuclear warhead.” Iran has threatened to leave the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons after Trump authorized U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities before announcing the cease-fire between Israel and Iran.
Carter joins fellow Republican congressmembers Darrell Issa of California, who said he nominated Trump in March, and Claudia Tenney of New York, who said she nominated Trump in January 2024. These nominations were submitted either before or after the February deadline for consideration for this year’s prize, for which there are 338 nominees and the recipient will be announced in October.
But Anat Alon-Beck, an Israeli-born law professor at Case Western Reserve University, told Axios she submitted a nomination of Trump before the deadline. “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.
Oleksandr Merezhko, a Ukrainian politician, also said he nominated Trump in November, writing: “It is my belief that Trump has made considerable contributions to world peace, and that he can make more in the future.” However, in June, he withdrew the nomination, saying he “lost any sort of faith and belief” in the U.S. President to secure peace between Russia and Ukraine.
Trump has also previously been nominated by a Finnish member of the European Parliament in 2020, a group of Australian professors in 2020, a far-right Norwegian lawmaker in 2018 and 2020, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2019, and an unidentified American in 2016.
In 2020, Trump told a crowd in Michigan: “You know it’s an amazing thing. I don’t say this out of ego, but I was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. And I have to tell you, that’s sort of a big thing.”
“All of them–Netanyahu, Putin, the sultans and princes–have solved the least difficult puzzle to solve on the planet,” criticized former Obama senior adviser David Axelrod on X after Netanyahu announced his nomination of Trump on Monday. “With Trump, lavish flattery and blandishments will get you everywhere!”
