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Trump’s Nobel Prize tantrum exposes leadership crisis
Trump’s growing obsession with winning the Nobel Peace Prize raises deeper questions about his leadership and commitment to global peace, writes Opiyo Oloya
Opiyo Oloya. (File)
By: Admin ., Journalist @New Vision
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OPINION
By Opiyo Oloya
The chaotic leadership of President Donald Trump is getting worse, more concerning by the hour. This is not just because Trump never possessed the self-awareness, discipline and experience required to lead the most powerful nation on the planet. It is that lately, he’s concerned mostly with his own survival and cementing a legacy he believes makes him the most consequential US president of all time, all of which fuel irrational behaviour expressed often through unfathomable public outbursts, as happened recently.
At a rally in Syracuse, New York, ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, the US leader spilled out his guts against the Norwegian Nobel Committee for awarding the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to Durban-born international jurist Navi Pillay.
“Today, they gave out the Nobel Peace Prize to a person I never heard of. The person nobody did. It’s a mystery person.”
Without holding back, Trump went further, blurting out: “The United States of America, represented by me as your president, should have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but didn’t. And this is an indelible stain on the country of Norway.”
For the record, Justice Pillay’s human rights work spans decades, including defending the rights of imprisoned Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners serving time on Robben Island, and serving at the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) established in 2002, which heard the case against Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga for recruiting child soldiers, for which he was sentenced in 2012 to 14 years in prison.
She also led the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory that concluded that Israel committed genocide in Gaza, a conclusion strongly rejected by both Israel and the US.
But the concern about Trump’s growing mental instability goes beyond whether Pillay should have been awarded the Nobel Prize. Rather, in his self-inflated, ego-driven world, Trump cannot imagine how he, Trump, cannot get anything he wants. Like a toddler who has yet to develop awareness, Trump’s tantrum is about the Nobel Committee denying him what he deserves and must have because, as he sees it, “Obama was awarded the prize for doing absolutely nothing”.
What Trump is unable to comprehend is that with each prize, the Nobel Committee deliberately sends a message about what kind of world it is promoting, which usually goes something like this: Through this Peace Prize, we wish to let the world know we value peace, human rights, community-driven work, development of the human race and so forth.
In taking this approach, the Nobel Prize committee is not duty-bound to honour famous people known across the world because they are wealthy, powerful or great movie actors. The richest man on the planet is Elon Musk, but he will not get the Nobel Peace Prize in this or the next life.
In fact, in its storied history, the Nobel Prize committee has mostly honoured people who fought for various causes. When the 1935 Nobel Prize winner, German journalist Carl von Ossietzky (announced in November 1936), was recognised for vocally opposing Nazi militarism and human rights abuses, Hitler was so angry he prevented Ossietzky from travelling to Oslo to collect the prize and decreed that no German would accept future prizes. That’s exactly what the Nobel Committee wanted — The world Hitler was promoting was no good, and Ossietzky was working to change it.
She also led the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory that concluded that Israel committed genocide in Gaza, a conclusion strongly rejected by both Israel and the US.
But the concern about Trump’s growing mental instability goes beyond whether Pillay should have been awarded the Nobel Prize. Rather, in his self-inflated, ego-driven world, Trump cannot imagine how he, Trump, cannot get anything he wants. Like a toddler who has yet to develop awareness, Trump’s tantrum is about the Nobel Committee denying him what he deserves and must have because, as he sees it, “Obama was awarded the prize for doing absolutely nothing”.
What Trump is unable to comprehend is that with each prize, the Nobel Committee deliberately sends a message about what kind of world it is promoting, which usually goes something like this: Through this Peace Prize, we wish to let the world know we value peace, human rights, community-driven work, development of the human race and so forth.
In taking this approach, the Nobel Prize committee is not duty-bound to honour famous people known across the world because they are wealthy, powerful or great movie actors. The richest man on the planet is Elon Musk, but he will not get the Nobel Peace Prize in this or the next life.
In fact, in its storied history, the Nobel Prize committee has mostly honoured people who fought for various causes. When the 1935 Nobel Prize winner, German journalist Carl von Ossietzky (announced in November 1936), was recognised for vocally opposing Nazi militarism and human rights abuses, Hitler was so angry he prevented Ossietzky from travelling to Oslo to collect the prize and decreed that no German would accept future prizes. That’s exactly what the Nobel Committee wanted — The world Hitler was promoting was no good, and Ossietzky was working to change it.
Other winners were honoured precisely because they dared to shine light on issues the world needed to learn about, like American Emily Greene Balch (1946) for disarmament, Belgian Dominique Pirre (1958) for helping refugees, Kenyan Wangari Muta Maathai (2004) for sustainable development, Liberian Leymah Gbowee for non-violent peace activism and Yemeni Tawakkol Karman (2011) for non-violent struggle for women, among others.
Unfortunately, Trump and those who egg him on are incapable of asking this simple question — Outside of enriching himself, his family and billionaire cronies, what has Trump really fought for to make the world a better place? Should Trump be awarded the Nobel Prize for carrying out extrajudicial executions of over 234 suspected narcotraffickers blown up by laser-guided missiles in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific Ocean?
Could it be possible that one or two or all those executed without the benefits of lawful detention and trial were guilty of nothing more than venturing out in international waters to fish for their families? We could never know that because Trump didn’t believe in their human rights.
Or should the Nobel committee consider Trump’s actions in Iran and Ukraine, which have been abominable? While in the middle of a negotiation, Trump attacked Iran, killing most of its senior leadership and sparking the current stalled war. In Ukraine, meanwhile, Trump is incapable of separating his personal interests and those of Russian President Vladimir Putin from the goal of peace, blatantly supporting and rewarding Russia’s aggression and, sadly, prolonging the war.
As the leader of a democratic country, Trump should understand Ukraine is fighting for its survival. But no, in his myopic shortsightedness, he has elected to support his buddy Putin to win the war. Trump, in other words, is willing to support the defeat of Ukraine for his own ends.
The fact is that Trump has become so self-absorbed that the world must consider the possibility he’ll create a crisis to hold onto power in the United States of America. Yes, you read that right —Trump could ignore elections altogether, setting up a scenario where the United States armed forces are deployed to enforce his edicts as the sole arbiter of power.
A Trump dictatorship, unthinkable after 250 years of a mostly successful experiment with a democratic republic, could bring the USA to a whimpering end in the hands of a wimpy president who cares only about himself. The question is what to do about it — Americans must answer that question when they go to the polls on November 3.
The writer is the inaugural associate vice-president, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
Unfortunately, Trump and those who egg him on are incapable of asking this simple question — Outside of enriching himself, his family and billionaire cronies, what has Trump really fought for to make the world a better place? Should Trump be awarded the Nobel Prize for carrying out extrajudicial executions of over 234 suspected narcotraffickers blown up by laser-guided missiles in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific Ocean?
Could it be possible that one or two or all those executed without the benefits of lawful detention and trial were guilty of nothing more than venturing out in international waters to fish for their families? We could never know that because Trump didn’t believe in their human rights.
Or should the Nobel committee consider Trump’s actions in Iran and Ukraine, which have been abominable? While in the middle of a negotiation, Trump attacked Iran, killing most of its senior leadership and sparking the current stalled war. In Ukraine, meanwhile, Trump is incapable of separating his personal interests and those of Russian President Vladimir Putin from the goal of peace, blatantly supporting and rewarding Russia’s aggression and, sadly, prolonging the war.
As the leader of a democratic country, Trump should understand Ukraine is fighting for its survival. But no, in his myopic shortsightedness, he has elected to support his buddy Putin to win the war. Trump, in other words, is willing to support the defeat of Ukraine for his own ends.
The fact is that Trump has become so self-absorbed that the world must consider the possibility he’ll create a crisis to hold onto power in the United States of America. Yes, you read that right —Trump could ignore elections altogether, setting up a scenario where the United States armed forces are deployed to enforce his edicts as the sole arbiter of power.
A Trump dictatorship, unthinkable after 250 years of a mostly successful experiment with a democratic republic, could bring the USA to a whimpering end in the hands of a wimpy president who cares only about himself. The question is what to do about it — Americans must answer that question when they go to the polls on November 3.
The writer is the inaugural associate vice-president, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at Western University, London, Ontario, Canada