For anyone who doesn’t like Donald Trump, (and don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of reasons not to like him), for anyone who says they will never like him, for anyone suffering from even a mild case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, don’t jump over to MSNBC.com, after I tell you that…
I hereby nominate President Donald John Trump for the Nobel Prize for Peace.
My nomination, of course, is completely meaningless. But Trump has put forth a 20-point plan that will not only end the Israel-Hamas war, but will attempt to set the Middle East on a new path. Amazingly enough, it has the backing of most of the Muslim world, nations like Türkiye, Qatar, Pakistan, Indonesia, Jordan and Egypt. It has the backing of Russia and China, France, Britain and Australia. And even if the Hamas terrorists reject it, don’t you think he still deserves the honor?
Compare what Trump put on paper to what the morally bankrupt European nations self-servingly announced when they recognized a Palestinian state that doesn’t exist and has never existed. In trying to appease their radical Muslim populations, their folly pushed peace farther away. Trump’s plan brings peace closer.
Trump not only presented a plan, but put the imprimateur of the Office of President of the United States on the success of the plan.
Agreed that the plan is vague in parts, but is the best plan so far to end the war, to stop the bloodshed, to have a vision for the future of Gaza and to get all the hostages back, living and dead.
And for everyone who a few years ago made Jared Kushner their favorite spoiled rich-kid meme, he deserves lots of props as well. Not only did he get the Abraham Accords across the finish line when he was in the White House, he has emerged from his Miami mansion and has leveraged his good will with Israel and the Arab nations in the region, to get them all to support the plan.
Praise, even grudging praise for the Trump plan, has come from unlikely sources. Here’s what New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, wrote in the paper this past week:
“President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan for the Gaza Strip is a smart plan for turning a bomb crater into a launchpad for peace — for taking a terrible, terrible war in Gaza and leveraging it to not only create a new foundation for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but also for normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria and maybe even Iraq as well. If it succeeds, it could even set in motion a much-needed transformation in Iran. Hats off to its key architects: Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff and Tony Blair. Without their efforts, this initiative would not have been born.”
High praise from Friedman who breaks out in a bad rash when he even hears a whisper of the Trump’s name.
For the pooh-poohers of this nutty Nobel idea, let’s take a quick look at a couple of past winners of the coveted prize.
Let’s see…in 2009 the Nobel was awarded to President Barack Obama for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Ahhhh…Could we be a bit more specific? Like, what did he actually do to deserve the prize after just his first months as president?
The Nobel committee said it wasn’t for what he did to promote peace, but rather for what he might do. But, as New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote at the time, “shouldn’t the Nobel Peace Prize have a higher bar than high expectations? Especially when there are so many people who have worked for years and years on the front lines, often in dangerous situations, to make difference to the most voiceless people of the world?”
You’d think that would be the case.
In 1994, that great seeker of peace and reconciliation, PLO leader and arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat, was awarded the prize, along with Israeli leaders Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin. They won it for negotiating the Oslo Accords. With that, Arafat, who personified the modern day terrorist until Osama bin Laden stole his sordid crown, shared company with the great Soviet dissident Andre Sakharov and Mother Teresa.
We all know Arafat never accepted the role of peacemaker and clung to being a bloody terrorist. Didn’t that award make total sense?
Here’s the bottom line. You can hate Trump till the cows come home, but he’s put a peace proposal on the table that can bring the awful conflict to a much-needed end. It doesn’t reward the terrorists and it points to a brighter future for Israelis and Palestinians.
So I go back to my original proposal, this time in a language the Norwegian Nobel committee understands.
Jeg nominerer herved Donald John Trump til Nobels fredspris.