The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the most prestigious awards in the world. Former recipients include the likes of Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Theresa, and Nelson Mandela. Recipients of the award also include four former U.S. presidents. Assuming the criteria to win the Nobel Peace Prize is the same today as it was when former President Barack Obama won the award less than one full year into his first term in 2009, President Trump should be the fifth U.S. president to win the award.
Obama received the award due to “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Additionally, a special emphasis was given to Obama’s support for the reduction of nuclear weapons worldwide.
Applying those same qualifications to Trump, he has more than satisfied the prerequisites. But there’s a chance he’ll do much more soon.
It has been widely reported that Obama made it known to then-President-elect Trump that North Korea would be his greatest challenge as president. That assertion has proven true through the first 16 months of Trump’s presidency. We have seen an increase in ballistic missile testing and aggressive rhetoric from the North Koreans over the last two years. Kim Jong Un’s development of nuclear capabilities remains one of the greatest dangers the world faces.
Despite constant criticism, it appears Trump’s policy on North Korea is achieving results. While much is still unknown and subject to change, Trump has agreed to sit down for a meeting with Kim Jong Un soon to discuss North Korea’s denuclearization. This proposed meeting follows a productive meeting that CIA Director Mike Pompeo had with North Korea’s top officials over Easter weekend.
Reports in recent days have suggested Kim is willing to the discuss denuclearization. Not only would a denuclearized North Korea be an achievement from the Trump administration that multiple previous administrations were unable to accomplish, that feat would be a victory for the safety of all Americans and people around the world. Additionally, with Trump’s blessing and at least in part thanks to his foreign policy, North and South Korea are in discussions to formally end their war.
The role as a key broker of peace and denuclearization in North Korea would make Trump a shoo-in for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Nor is that his only accomplishment to date. Filling the void created by Obama removing U.S. troops from Iraq, ISIS has been the cause of terror across the globe. Trump has made the total destruction of this terrorist organization a top priority, and he has overseen a substantial decrease in ISIS controlled territory since taking office in January 2017.
Trump hasn’t done all of this alone. In May 2017, he spoke in Saudi Arabia at the Arab Islamic America Summit in front of leaders from 50 Muslim nations on his first foreign visit. During that speech, Trump reached out to those leaders in an effort to form a global coalition to drive out extremism and pursue peace. Just this past week during a visit to the White House, the Emir of Qatar, a nation Trump once described as a “funder of terrorism,” stated Qatar does not and would not tolerate people who fund terrorism.
When it comes to the use of chemical weapons, Trump has taken decisive action in response to their use by Syrian President Bashar Assad. The bombing of these chemical weapon sites in Syria, along with forces from France and the U.K., is a substantial step toward showing the world chemical weapon use will not be tolerated — a deviation from the lack of red line enforcement of Obama’s term. Trump’s strong action against chemical weapons would seem to align well with the Nobel Peace Prize, especially considering it was awarded to the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in 2013.
Trump has used his position of strength and power not to bring more conflict into the world, but to help make the world a safer, more peaceful place. Based on any of the objective criteria that was used in awarding Obama his Nobel Peace Prize 9 months after his inauguration, Trump surely qualifies now.
Evan Berryhill, a former Hill staffer, is a law student and a freelance writer.
