Trump craves recognition as the peacemaker president. Will diplomatic wins in South Asia and Ukraine spur him on?
President Donald Trump, hailing a successful U.S.-mediated ceasefire between India and Pakistan on Saturday, brought flashbacks to his inauguration day address and desire to be seen as a “peacemaker.”
Standing under the dome of the Capitol Building, the bombastic, newly sworn-in 47th President of the United States, previously its 45th commander-in-chief, delivered a dark and partisan address before the throng of lawmakers and dignitaries.
Amid declarations on immigration, taxes, governmental upheaval, being saved by god, and the dawn of a golden age for America, Trump also revisited some of his familiar grievances about how unfairly he has been treated.
There was a nod to one particular complaint, sandwiched between promises to build the strongest military the world has ever seen and a desire for an expansionist America, Trump said: “We will measure our success, not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.”
He continued: “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That’s what I want to be, a peacemaker and a unifier.”
On the surface, an admirable mission statement, but underneath lies a personal motive and related gripe. President Trump has made no secret that one thing he really desires is a Nobel Peace Prize.
He has complained about not getting one for almost a decade and is particularly galled by the fact that President Barack Obama was awarded one after just nine months in office for working toward “the great climatic challenges.”
On the campaign trail last year, Trump said: “If I were named Obama, I would have had the Nobel Prize given to me in 10 seconds.”
Former Trump national security adviser, turned vocal opponent, John Bolton, told The New York Times: “The center of his public life is the greater glory of Donald Trump, and the Nobel Peace Prize would be a nice thing to hang on the wall.”
Bolton added: “[Trump] felt if Obama got it for not doing anything, why should he not get it?”
In one of his many public airing of grievances, in February, during an Oval Office meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said: “They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize. It’s too bad. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.”
Indeed, the president has been nominated for the award by Republican allies. In early 2024, New York Rep. Claudia Tenney put Trump forward for the honor for his role in the Abraham Accords treaty that normalized relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.
“Donald Trump was instrumental in facilitating the first new peace agreements in the Middle East in almost 30 years,” she claimed in a statement posted on her website.
And yet, nothing came of the nomination — it was instead awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, the Japanese organization of atomic bomb survivors dedicated to advocating for nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation.
