Donald Trump, one of the most controversial politicians of our time, has repeatedly claimed the role of a peacemaker. Despite this, the Nobel Peace Prize has eluded him.

The Formal Pretexts and the Peacemaker Narrative

For Trump’s supporters, the arguments for his candidacy seemed substantial and visible. It would be incorrect to claim that his nominations were entirely baseless. Two key achievements of his administration formed the backbone of the “Trump the Peacemaker” narrative.

The first and most spectacular was the diplomatic breakthrough on the Korean Peninsula. In 2018, the world watched with bated breath as the sitting U.S. President and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shook hands at a historic summit in Singapore. It was a moment of incredible symbolic power. After decades of hostility, threats, and “fire and fury,” the mere fact of the meeting seemed miraculous. Trump masterfully leveraged this moment, speaking of the “chemistry” between him and Kim, discussing the potential for a brilliant future for the hermetic country, and, crucially, promising the complete denuclearization of the peninsula. This was a goal that had eluded his predecessors for decades, and Trump positioned himself as the only leader with the courage and deal-making prowess to achieve it.

The second trump card was the Abraham Accords, finalized in 2020. Through the active mediation of the Trump administration, Israel signed agreements to normalize relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and later with Sudan and Morocco. This was an undeniable diplomatic triumph that redrew the political map of the Middle East. Decades of formal non-recognition of Israel by the Arab world were shaken. For the Nobel Committee, which has in the past awarded peace treaties in the Middle East (as with Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin in 1978), this achievement looked like a serious bid.

However, the Nobel Peace Prize is not a lottery where a ticket in the form of a flashy summit is enough. It is a carefully weighed decision that considers not only the initiative itself but also its context, long-term consequences, and, importantly, the overall profile of the candidate as a global actor.

The Gap Between Process and Result: Short-Term Success vs. Sustainable Peace

A key reason for the Nobel Committee’s skepticism was the radical divergence between stated goals and achieved results. The prize is traditionally awarded for concrete, verifiable achievements, not just for opening a dialogue.

In the case of North Korea, the brilliant Singapore summit remained, for the most part, a television spectacle. The beautiful footage and grand declarations were not followed by real progress on disarmament. On the contrary, according to international observers and intelligence agencies, North Korea not only failed to halt its nuclear program but continued to expand and refine its arsenal. Subsequent meetings and the exchange of “love........

© New Eastern Outlook