I can’t resist this.
It is so premature at this point that it’s laughable, but there are articles all over the news media about the prospect of President Trump being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize if all goes well between the Koreas, and a nuclear ban results.
Senator Graham, the alternating-current Trump ally/critic, told Fox that the President would deserve the honor. Some oddsmakers put Trump at 10-1 to win right now. Is there any way President Trump could win the most prestigious of the international honors?
Here’s my answer: No! Never. If Trump was unequivocally responsible for ending world hunger, war, pestilence and death, the Nobel Committee—you know, the ones that gave the Peace Prize to Barack Obama for doing absolutely nothing other than talking and being the first black President—would disband before it would honor Donald Trump. it is so obvious now, or should be, that the ideological and personal animus toward Donald Trump no longer is moored to reality, truth logic, fairness or standards that have applied and still apply to anyone else. Anyone who says anything good about him risks being marginalized and ostracized professionally and personally. Anyone who attacks him or any positive contention regarding him is rewarded.
So I’m not voting in this poll. I am, however, curious to see what others think. Here, therefore, is a poll:
Ethics Alarms 
The only one in the poll I couldn’t cast a vote for is “If that occurred, they would have to give him the prize.”
I don’t understand why it would go to him and not to the group as a whole – which would include Kim Jong Un, Moon, Xi, and Abe.
The idea is that it wouldn’t go to him even as a member of a group.
B.S., Tim. That cast of characters accomplished jack shit until Trump came along.
My personal vote would be Fuck the Nobel Prize and its committee. They can blow themselves up with some of the product that made Mr. Nobel his fortune and has resulted in the death of how many earthlings?
Personally, I hope they give it to Rocket Man. That would be great. His reputation with the left would do a quicker U-turn than Comey’s did. Pathetic. Give a peace prize to a guy who starves his subjects to death and executes political opponents with anti-aircraft artillery? Maybe Stalin and Mao can be given Nobels posthumously! Or why not Hitler? He ended WWII by shooting himself in his bunker! What a guy!
I mean, you can use expletives and tell me I’m full of shit and what not, but maybe you should let President Trump know as well since he’s out there on Twitter praising their assistance. Or maybe you hate Trump so much that you don’t want to acknowledge the people he’s pleased to acknowledge?
Maybe he’s praising people because that’s how you get deals done?
What a joke the Nobel family is. I assume everyone here knows what Great Grandpa Al did for a living:
Alfred Bernhard Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and philanthropist. Known for inventing dynamite, Nobel also owned Bofors, which he had redirected from its previous role as primarily an iron and steel producer to a major manufacturer of cannon and other armaments.
You mean I can get a Nobel Peace Prize by pointing a nuclear weapon at a neighboring country, then putting it down and shaking their leader’s hand? That’s easy enough. Now everyone who wants a Peace Prize is going to be developing nuclear weapons.
Yeah, I’m wondering what’s gonna happen next between India and Pakistan. Or between Iran and Israel, for that matter.
”You mean I can get a Nobel Peace Prize by pointing a nuclear weapon at a neighboring country, then putting it down and shaking their leader’s hand?”
Heck EC, you don’t even have to go to all that trouble.
Please reference: Obama, Barack H.
I considered that, but it seems harder for any given person to become a minority, if they weren’t already, and get elected president of the United States than to take over a small country and start acting belligerent towards neighboring countries. Then again, if a person who is already part of a recognized minority group is halfway competent, the entire Democratic Party will probably try to get them elected president, so maybe it wouldn’t be that hard on average.
One can always identify as a minority…
Also, can someone let me know how close we are, currently, to midnight? My watch seems to be broken.
Oh, it’s always three minute to midnight!!!! We’re doomed. DOOMED!!!
It’s easy:
If a Republican is President we’re in T-minus-beads-of-sweat-dripping-down-our-brow-say-good-bye-to-your-loved-ones territory.
If a Democrat is President, we just don’t even mention the clock.
I’m not sure how to parse “if he was accorded credit…”
By whom?
More importantly, what portion of credit, because I don’t see this as “great historical figure” history, though no doubt he does.
It’s a tortured premise to struggle with.
It would have been phrased better if I wasn’t limited in the number of letters I could use in the question. If North Korea moves seriously to stop saber-rattling and reconcile with NK, Trump will deserve credit, but as with Reagan, lots of experts will torture fairness and logic to avid giving him credit, just as many (still) do with Reagan breaking the Soviet Union. So that accord itself is likely not to happen…that could have been a preliminary poll. I’m asking if Trump would get a Peace Prize even if there was more or less consensus that he did bring about the change…and my verdict is, he wouldn’t.
I wonder if they might give it to him as a criticism for the destabilizing ourselves… or smack Putin. Gamesmanship can answer to more than one motive. Pragmatism, and progressive ideals can cause weird intersections.
“Pragmatism, and progressive ideals can cause weird intersections.”
Seriously, that’s a keeper. Thank you.
I might have worded the response a little differently: “If that occurs, they should consider giving him the prize” It takes into account his role in the process, the other players to whom, surprisingly he has given credit, and accounts for any other significant acts on the world stage that may be equal or close to Korean reunification. If he has a role and it is significant, than credit where credit is due.
Jack, April 1 was almost a month ago.
I am not yet that jaded. We are mired in the American Media’s Trump-hate frenzy. It is very difficult to discern if this extends abroad, especially in non-English speaking countries. The media wants the American public to think the world is losing respect for the United States and equally disgusted by Trump – they hype every bit of evidence to that effect – and leave contrary information untranslated. We need to be skeptical of the narrative.
All evidence is that most non english speaking countries would like to see America fall.
Quick thought experiment: how many countries sent aid to Texas when Harvey struck? Katrina?
This is exactly the kind of unsubstantiated claim I am skeptical of. What evidence?
https://www.heritage.org/homeland-security/report/accepting-disaster-relief-other-nations-lessons-katrina-and-the-gulf-oil:
Though much ended up being declined:
If you look at the actual help, not much of it actually was given. Most was just virtue signalling.
Help does happen, here and there. Notice how little help came after Harvey that was not domestic. Now, Americans DID stand up for Texas, but then again, normal middle class Americans always do help each other.
I will concede the point, Rich, in that you can find offerings of help, here and there. Much of it is just politics, though, and does not actually happen.