Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize by Norwegian politician. It’s not the first time
President Donald Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the second time — and by the same person.
Trump was nominated for the award by Christian Tybring-Gjedde, a Norwegian lawmaker described by the Associated Press as “far right”, who said it was for the president helping strike a deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Fox News reported.
“For his merit, I think he has done more trying to create peace between nations than most other Peace Prize nominees,” Tybring-Gjedde, a member of the conservative Progress Party, told the publication.
The nomination doesn’t mean Trump is a shoo-in for receiving the illustrious award, however. Hundreds of people are nominated annually for consideration, but no more than three people have won since 2000 on any given year.
Nominations are submitted by governments, university chancellors, and other people in approved categories starting in September. The deadline for submissions is February 1 and a short list is compiled. The Nobel Peace Prize Laureates are picked at the beginning of October by a majority vote and the winners receive their prize on December 10 in Oslo, Norway.
The deal between Israel and the UAE, sealed on Aug. 13, would be only the third time an Arab country had diplomatic relations with Israel, according to The New York Times. Egypt signed a peace deal in 1979 and Jordan signed a treaty in 1994, the publication reported.
The Israel-UAE deal would include “full normalization of relations” if Israel stops annexation of the West Bank, according to The New York Times.
Trump will host a signing ceremony for the agreement on Sept. 15, Reuters reported.
Tybring-Gjedde also mentioned Trump withdrawing troops from the Middle East. Trump promised on the campaign trail that he would stop U.S. involvement in “endless wars, and his administration has said it will withdraw more troops from Iraq, Marketplace reported.
Around 3,000 more troops were deployed to the Middle East after an attack on an U.S. embassy in Iraq in January, NBC News reported.
Who is Christian Tybring-Gjedde?
Tybring-Gjedde is a Parliament member for the right-wing Progress Party, according to Reuters.
He is the chairman of the Norwegian delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Fox News reported. Previously, Tybring-Gjedde worked in the Norwegian Ministry of Defence.
Tybring-Gjedde and Per-Willy Amundsen, another member of the Progress Party, nominated Trump for the prize in 2018 after his summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to Fox News. They said Trump “had taken a huge and important step in the direction of the disarmament, peace and reconciliation between North and South Korea.”
Trump said in 2019 that he deserved the award for his work on Syria and North Korea but that he “probably will never get it,” The Los Angeles Times reported.
“They gave it to Obama. He didn’t even know what he got it for,” Trump said. “He was there for about 15 seconds and he got the Nobel Prize. He said, ‘Oh, what did I get it for?’ With me, I probably will never get it.”
Obama won the award in 2009 for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” He joined Theodore Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter and Woodrow Wilson as the other former presidents to win the prize.
The winner for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced October 9 in Oslo, according to Reuters.
This story was originally published September 9, 2020 at 9:36 AM with the headline "Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize by Norwegian politician. It’s not the first time."