2016 has been off to a good start for Presidential Hopeful Donald Trump
Not only did he emerge from last night’s New Hampshire primary as the leading Republican candidate, he also got nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
That’s right.
The guy who pledged to pay legal fees for supporters who beat up hecklers at rallys just got nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Kristian Berg Harpviken, an observer at the Nobel Committee, told France’s AFP news agency that an unnamed Trump supporter submitted a letter to the committee recommending Trump. The sender cited Trump’s commitment to “vigorous peace through strength ideology, used as a threat weapon of deterrence against radical Islam, ISIS, nuclear Iran and Communist China.”
If awarded the prize – a feat Harpviken says is unlikely –Trump will join the ranks of historic figures including Theodore Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa.
Some believe the letter requesting Trump’s nomination was satirical in nature. In the troll-heavy age of social media, that’s not unlikely.
But, the Nobel Committee is no stranger to controversy. Other nominees this year include Edward Snowden, who is fleeing American authorities after having leaked intelligence from the National Security Agency.
Previous winners include U.S. Commander-in-chief Barrack Obama, who has received his share of criticism over civilian casualties in the War on Terror.
Thousands of people ranging from university professors to members of Norway’s Parliament are eligible to nominate candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize. Although the Norwegian Nobel Committee keeps their names secret, it says it receives more than 200 nominations per year. Its decision-making process is also kept under wraps. However, the political nature of the award has brought the committee under scrutiny before.
The five-member committee is appointed by Norway’s Parliament. Since 1901, the committee has been awarding its prize each year on Dec. 10 at Oslo City Hall.
The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to an individual whom the committee deems has achieved most in the preservation of world peace and equality among all people, as well as for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of armies, and the promotion of peace.
We have 29 Nobel candidates for 2016 who trump Donald and who are all committed to a sane, fair and non-violent world order – the exact opposite of Trump´s “peace through strength ideology.” We have screened all known nominations for 2016 and you can read our short list and the full nomination texts here: http://nobelwill.org/index.html?tab=7#list Doing so you will understand for whom the prize was intended – Nobel wrote in his will that he wished to support the work of the “champions of peace” seeking co-operation between all nations on security by disarmament. NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WATCH has plied open the secretive nomination process and since an open, transparent process is in the Scandinavian tradition and indispensible to making the Norwegian awarders respect Nobel´s visionary peace idea.
We watch Trump hitting hard at Mexicans, Muslims, and make Boom – Boom – Bomb in sounds and gestures – and with much despair recall a rogue politician who had the troubled masses roaring in Germany in the thirties. We know from history what disasters may come from supporting such primitive seductors of the masses.