Trump’s nominations for the Peace Prize often had an ig-noble trigger
Leaders from Israel to Taiwan showered Donald Trump with Nobel Peace Prize nominations, using flattery to persuade him into mediating global conflicts and advancing their interests.
M uch of the world has understood how to flatter Donald Trump... or how to get his goat.
Nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize. Or at least declare him the most worthy candidate.
Or don’t nominate him and don’t mention his eminent worthiness for the world’s most prestigious award.
On October 9, a day ahead of the Nobel Peace Prize announcement, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a doctored image of Mr Trump receiving it. In July, Mr Netanyahu said he had already nominated Mr Trump for the Prize.
The same day that Mr Netanyahu posted that image, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he’d nominate Mr Trump for the Prize if he sends Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv and gets the war with Russia to a ceasefire.
And on October 7, Taiwan’s president Lai Ching-te told a conservative US radio show and podcast that Mr Trump should get the Prize if he is able to convince China’s president Xi Jinping to abandon the use of force against Taiwan.
It’s obvious the flattery was meant to push Mr Trump to get on with the job of ending some conflict or other that disturbs the speaker. In a sense, Mr Trump was reduced to the status of a performing monkey with tasty treats dangled before him once he finishes an allotted task.
Back in August, Cambodia’s prime minister Hun Manet nominated Mr Trump for the Prize. That same month, Armenia’s prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, jointly endorsed Mr Trump for the Prize.
Alas, nominations made this year will only count for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, according to the rules of the Nobel Committee.
Still, it never hurts to flatter the Big Chief.
The Pakistani government was probably one of the earliest to push for the Peace Prize for Mr Trump, reportedly doing so in June.
India, pointedly, did not and look where it is! With a 50 per cent tariff rate for its exports to the US, and with Mr Trump making it harder and more expensive for Indians to get the H1-B visas they overwhelmingly used to receive.
(Editor’s note: The Nobel Peace Prize winner, Maria Corina Machado, dedicated her award to Trump after he was not selected this year.)
GOING FURTHER
White House blasts Nobel Committee for not awarding Peace Prize to Trump | BBC NEWS
Nobel peace prize winner Maria Corina Machado dedicates award to Trump after he misses out | THE INDEPENDENT
Pity poor Trump, whose Nobel hopes were dashed by common sense | THE GUARDIAN
Sources:
▪ This piece was first published in Medium and re-published in Europeans TODAY on 11 October 2025 under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. | The author writes in a personal capacity.
▪ Cover: X/@IsraeliPM. - AI Generated image. (Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.)
