Sour grapes: Trump, 79, gasps; now downplays talk of Nobel Peace Prize
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: After lamenting that, despite his ‘outstanding’ achievements to stop almost one war a month after returning to the White House in January 2025 for a second term, and emerging as a global butt of jokes, a downcast US President Donald Trump has started downplaying his quest for a Nobel Peace Prize.
After renaming the Department of Defense as the Department of War this week, the self-appointed Nobel candidate told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner: “I have nothing to say about it. All I can do is put out wars…I don’t seek attention. I just want to save lives.”
Earlier, he had repeatedly stated that he should be awarded the prestigious accolade for his role in resolving several conflicts.
Not only did the White House openly favour him for the Prize, he himself ‘cold-called’ Norway’s Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg in August to ask about his bid to win the Nobel Peace Prize, the media reported.
The Norwegian parliament appoints the five members of the Nobel panel. Trump reportedly discussed his prizewinning hopes with Stoltenberg, although the latter did not confirm it.
Some of America’s client countries, including Israel, Pakistan, and Cambodia, and lawmakers here and there, have already nominated Trump for what he called ‘brokering peace’ between several countries since January.
Trump also hosted Armenia and Azerbaijan after they ended their hostilities, and invited Pakistan’s self-proclaimed “Field Marshal” and Army chief Asim Munir, the de factor ruler in Islamabad, twice, after he provoked a terror attack on and lost a near-war against India.
Trump also told CBS News that he was committed to helping secure a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. He said: “Something is going to happen. We are going to get it done.”
He is expected to speak by phone to pro-Ukraine European leaders who are meeting in Paris on Thursday. His special envoy Steve Witkoff is attending in person.
The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is due to be announced by the Norwegian Nobel Committee on October 10. Four previous US presidents have been awarded the honour, including Trump’s political adversary Barack Obama.
In February, Trump lamented: “They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize. I deserve it, but they will never give it.”
His White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, reinforced the message in July, arguing that it was “well past time” that Trump won the prize.
Other members of his top team have added to the crescendo. At a cabinet meeting last week, his Man Friday Steve Witkoff called him the “single finest” Nobel candidate in history due to his “game-changing” work.
More than 40 times since the Operation Sindoor in May 20025, Trump took credit for a ‘ceasefire’ between Pakistan and India—and has continued to boast it despite India’s firm and categorial denials multiple times.
That was one of six or seven wars or ceasefires that Trump has claimed credit for —including the Gaza War which is not just still on but Israel is readying to take over the Strip this month.
The claim has drawn forensic scrutiny from analysts who say some of these conflicts lasted just days – though they were the result of long-standing tensions. It is unclear whether some of the peace deals will last.
