Special Poll
For years, Donald Trump has been fixated on presidential power, seeking retribution against his opponents, and achieving one of the highest honors in global diplomacy—the Nobel Peace Prize.
Now, his administration is actively pushing for that recognition, as securing a Nobel has remained an unfulfilled ambition. This pursuit played a key role in the heated exchange between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during Friday’s Oval Office meeting.
The idea of Trump winning a Nobel has increasingly influenced how administration officials discuss his leadership, particularly as he attempts to end conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News in February that Trump deserves the award for his efforts to resolve the war between Russia and Ukraine. He stated that “if it were fairly awarded, I think in a year, he should get it from what I’ve seen.”
New York Representative Elise Stefanik, Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, used her speech at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to advocate for his Nobel candidacy. Other top officials, including Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, echoed the sentiment. Waltz declared, “By the end of this all, we’re going to have the Nobel Prize sitting next to the name of Donald J. Trump.”
However, whether Trump can secure the prize largely depends on his ability to broker peace in Ukraine. Friday’s contentious meeting—which ended with Trump ejecting Zelensky from the White House and alarming U.S. allies in Europe—may significantly hinder those efforts.
While Trump has long craved the validation of a Nobel Prize, he has expressed skepticism that the Norwegian committee responsible for selecting winners would ever honor him. Frustrated by the process, he has repeatedly criticized the decision to award the prize to former President Barack Obama in 2009, just months into his first term, for his efforts to reduce nuclear proliferation and improve relations with the Muslim world.
In 2019, Trump argued that he deserved the award “for a lot of things, if they gave it out fairly—which they don’t.” He went on to claim that Obama himself “had no idea why he got it,” adding, “That was the only thing I agreed with him on.”
Despite multiple nominations from figures such as Norwegian politician Christian Tybring-Gjedde and Swedish lawmaker Magnus Jacobsson during his first term, Trump has yet to win the prize. More recently, Representative Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) nominated him for his role in brokering the Abraham Accords, a series of agreements between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco. Once again, he was passed over.
Trump’s focus on winning a Nobel has not waned. During a meeting last month with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a reporter asked if he expected to receive the prize if he succeeded in ending the war in Gaza. Without hesitation, Trump responded, “I deserve it, but they would never give it to me.”
This year, he has been nominated again. Anat Alon-Beck, an Israeli-born professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, submitted a letter to the Nobel committee just before the January 31 deadline, arguing that Trump should be recognized for his early work on Middle East peace efforts. Her letter highlighted his role in securing hostage releases, combating antisemitism, and forging agreements that promote regional stability. Alon-Beck emphasized that she had no communication with the White House before sending the nomination.
In addition to Alon-Beck’s submission, a Ukrainian politician, Oleksandr Merezhko, also nominated Trump for the prize. The White House has not commented on the nominations, but Trump’s advisers believe his chances would improve if he manages to secure peace in Gaza and negotiate a deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel that includes progress toward a Palestinian state.
Trump has floated a highly controversial proposal to relocate nearly 2 million Palestinians from Gaza to “better housing” in Egypt or Jordan, though both nations have resisted the idea.
Critics argue that Trump does not deserve the Nobel because it remains uncertain whether he can achieve lasting peace in either the Middle East or Eastern Europe. His alignment with Russia at the expense of Ukraine and NATO may further damage his standing with the Norwegian jury overseeing the prize selection.
John Bolton, who served as Trump’s national security adviser during his first term and has since become one of his critics, dismissed the idea of Trump winning a Nobel. “He has said that if Obama got one early in his term, he should too,” Bolton remarked. “I would turn it around. They should be treated equally—neither of them deserve it.”