Trump: I don’t want to be bragging. Also Trump: Nobody should get the Nobel Prize more than me
During a Jan. 9 press conference, Donald Trump was asked a fairly narrow question about Maria Corina Machado and Venezuela. “If she gives you her Nobel Peace Prize, will that change your view about her running that country?” the reporter asked. But Trump went on a familiar detour. He again began arguing that no human alive, dead, or fictional deserved the Nobel Prize more than him.
Notably, Trump began cautiously enough. He first said he would need to speak with Machado and that she “might be involved in some aspect.” He also claimed that “it’s very nice that she wants to come in” to hand him her award. But then the original question became irrelevant.
Trump pivoted to Norway, claiming the country is “very embarrassed” by its failure to award him the Nobel Prize. According to Trump, Norway is now “getting decimated.” He did not did not explain, contextualize, or support that claim. Just dropped it and went on. From there, the speech expanded into familiar rant.
Trump’s “I settled eight wars” claim returns
Trump asserted that he had “settled eight wars,” many of them being decades long. He rattled off several duration; 36 years, 32 years, 31 years, 28 years, 25 years, all without naming the conflicts. He also claimed to have prevented a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan “in rapid order.”
I can’t think of anybody in history that should get the Nobel Prize more than me. And I don’t want to be bragging, but nobody else settled wars.
Trump positioned himself the only deserving man of the Nobel Peace Prize. And the very next moment, he insisted, “I don’t want to be bragging.” But even that contradiction did not slow him down. Trump then moved to contrast himself with Barack Obama, who’s the sole reason Trump is so obsessed with the prize.
Obama has “no idea” why he got the Nobel Prize
Trump dismissed Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize as undeserved, arguing that he received the prize “almost immediately upon attaining office.” He said:
Obama got the Nobel Prize. He had no idea why. He still has no idea. He walks around, he says, “I got the Nobel Prize.” Why did he get a Nobel Prize? He got it almost immediately upon attaining office and he didn’t do anything and he was a bad president.
Trump also presented his version of Nobel criteria. According to him, awards should be distributed transactionally: one prize for every war stopped. By that logic, Trump suggested, he should have received multiple Nobel Prizes by now. He then cited another fantasy story to support his claims. One day, Vladimir Putin personally called him to sing his praises:
I mean you should get the Nobel Prize for every war you stopped. These were major wars. These were wars that nobody thought could be stopped. President Putin called me and he said about two of the wars that he’s been trying to stop them for 10 years. He wasn’t able to do it. He couldn’t believe it.
At the end, Trump claims he doesn’t care about the award
After ranting in length about why he should get it, Trump suddenly insisted he doesn’t care about the award. “What I care about is saving lives,” he said, before estimating that he had saved “tens of millions.” He cited a visit from Pakistan’s prime minister, who he claimed publicly credited him with saving “10 million lives.” As always, none of these assertions were accompanied by evidence.
Ironically, Trump began by rejecting self-promotion, then spent several minutes promoting himself. He dismissed the Nobel Prize as unimportant, while simultaneously arguing that no one in history was more entitled to it. On social media reaction to the irony was swift and unsympathetic.
Users called Trump’s claims “delusional,” noting that Nobel Prizes are not transferable and that Norway is not, in fact, embarrassed. “No, Norway is not embarrassed. Americans are embarrassed by Trump acting like a spoiled rotten child,” one wrote. Another added, “First of all, the Nobel Peace Prize is not transferable. And Norway isn’t “embarrassed” because Trump didn’t get one. That’s just a fantasy he repeats to soothe his ego.”
Trump closed the exchange by returning, briefly, to Machado. He said he was “honored” she was coming and looked forward to meeting her. The Nobel tangent had run its course. But the verdict is, Americans are embarrassed, not Norway.
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