When Rep. Luke Messer, R-Ind., suggested last March that Trump should win a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, the fifth-ranking House Republican and current Indiana Senate candidate received a bit of ridicule. It did seem like a gimmick at the time.
A lot has changed since then.
In the last month, the prospect of actually ending the decades-long Korean War has finally become reality. North and South Korea have agreed to “complete denuclearization,” and in a historic moment, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in actually met in person at the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
[Trump formally nominated for Nobel Peace Prize]
Some of this, of course, is idle talk coming out of the Hermit Kingdom. Kim Jong Un probably still feels he needs his nuclear weapons as a defense measure and political insurance policy. Not only does the bomb make certain his regime never goes the way of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq or Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya, it also frightens the rest of the world and allows him to keep his people preparing for war instead of questioning authority.
But the achievements are still historic. They are so remarkable enough that even Moon added his name to the list of people calling for a Trump Nobel Peace Prize. A month after Messer floated the idea, the South Korean president said that “It is President Trump who should receive the Nobel Prize.”
The Indiana primary is in less than a week and Messer is locked in a tough three way race. Win or lose, he will at least know that he was one of the first to suggest the peace prize for Trump.
