Spare a thought for how the rabid legions of Trump haters must feel today. If his peace deal unfolds as planned, the man the international Left loves to hate and calls a fascist will have ended a devastating war that has divided the world; and he will have joined the ranks of the great American peacemaking presidents. In fact, he would be more deserving of the award than any of them.
Norway’s Nobel committee announces its annual Peace Prize tomorrow, so Trump’s plan perhaps comes too late for this year’s award. But if his 20 point plan successfully unfolds, he looks like a deserved shoo-in for next year’s award.
The President has made no secret of his wish to win the prize, and despite the fact that America has been often accused of imperialism and war-mongering throughout history, it also has a pedigree of presidents winning the Nobel Peace Prize: if Trump gets the award, he would be the fifth president to do so.
The first winner was another tough-talking strongman from an affluent New York family: Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. He won it in 1906 for his successful diplomatic efforts to end the Russian-Japanese War; Roosevelt hosted the conference at Maine in 1905 that led to the Treaty of Portsmouth.
Roosevelt himself was far from a peacenik. He had himself raised a volunteer cavalry force – the “rough riders” – to help drive imperial Spain out of Cuba in 1898. He also campaigned aggressively for America to enter the First World War.
Spare a thought for how the rabid legions of Trump haters must feel today. If his peace deal unfolds as planned, the man the international Left loves to hate and calls a fascist will have ended a devastating war that has divided the world; and he will have joined the ranks of the great American peacemaking presidents. In fact, he would be more deserving of the award than any of them.
Norway’s Nobel committee announces its annual Peace Prize tomorrow, so Trump’s plan perhaps comes too late for this year’s award. But if his 20 point plan successfully unfolds, he looks like a deserved shoo-in for next year’s award.
The President has made no secret of his wish to win the prize, and despite the fact that America has been often accused of imperialism and war-mongering throughout history, it also has a pedigree of presidents winning the Nobel Peace Prize: if Trump gets the award, he would be the fifth president to do so.
The first winner was another tough-talking strongman from an affluent New York family: Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. He won it in 1906 for his successful diplomatic efforts to end the Russian-Japanese War; Roosevelt hosted the conference at Maine in 1905 that led to the Treaty of Portsmouth.
Roosevelt himself was far from a peacenik. He had himself raised a volunteer cavalry force – the “rough riders” – to help drive imperial Spain out of Cuba in 1898. He also campaigned aggressively for America to enter the First World War.