Donald Trump’s hopes of winning the Nobel Peace Prize appear to have been dashed yet again.
The president launched an unprecedented lobbying campaign to win last year’s prize, arguing that he was a worthy candidate.
He lost to Venezuelan opposition politician Maria Corina Machado, who later gave her gold medal to Trump, sparking concerns that he could pull such a stunt again this year.
“I think last year’s events around the Nobel Peace Prize, Maria Corina Machado giving it to Trump afterwards, will affect some of the considerations that they make,” acting director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo Haakon Gjerloew told Reuters, referring to the five-person adjudication panel.
“One worry the committee might have is whether awarding it to someone could put them under pressure from Donald Trump... I think the committee will consider whether the award does more harm than good.”
One name being thrown around is pope Leo. The first U.S.-born pope has clashed repeatedly with Trump, particularly over his war with Iran, and has become a fierce advocate for peace worldwide.
“The pope stands (for) more than just as a religious figure,” Karim Haggag, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, told Reuters. “He has emerged as a leading thought leader.”
A victory for the leader of the Catholic Church would antagonize Trump, who called Leo “weak” and claimed he was “endangering a lot of Catholics” because “he thinks it’s fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
On Truth Social in April, Trump threatened that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
His words shocked the world, including Leo, who criticized the president.
“Today, as we all know, there has also been this threat against the entire people of Iran,” he told journalists gathered in Italy. “And this is truly unacceptable. There are certainly issues of international law here, but even more, it is a moral question concerning the good of the people as a whole, in its entirety.”
Another name that would enrage the president is Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
According to betting and prediction-market site Covers.com, which tracks Kalshi prices, the Canadian was trading at a 14 percent implied chance on Monday.
For Trump, it said, “That chance is near-zero.”
The U.S. and Canada have become locked in an increasingly bitter trade war that has seen relations between the allies slump to historic lows.
Whether the committee will choose a winner who will incense Trump or give him little to rage against remains to be seen.
Oeivind Stenersen, a historian who has written about the Nobel Peace Prize, told Reuters that the committee may be forced to make a stand to protect the international system it celebrates.
“They have a certain pressure... to be tough against Trump,” he said. “In this serious international situation, this year calls for a Peace Prize in defense of liberal democracy, international law and human rights.”
Trump’s charge for the prestigious accolade last year centered on his mystifying claim that he’d ended a series of wars around the world.
He claimed to have ended conflicts between Israel and Iran, Israel and Hamas, Pakistan and India, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Thailand and Cambodia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Serbia and Kosovo.
One had no fighting to end. Others lasted days, and leaders involved have questioned Trump’s claims that he ended them.
Among them, he claimed the U.S. had brokered peace between India and Pakistan, part of a long-running land dispute over the Kashmir region.
“The talks regarding cessation of military action were held directly between India and Pakistan under the existing channels established between both militaries,” said India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, appearing to reject any suggestion that the U.S. had been responsible for the break in hostilities.
When he didn’t win last year’s award, Trump blamed Norway, even though the award panel is independent of the country where it is based.
When Machado gave him her award, the committee said that it was non-transferable.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
