Donald Trump’s thuggish campaign to bully his way to the Nobel peace prize should not be the cause for the committee to reject him. There are many more substantial grounds that render him patently unqualified to receive the award.

Among the numerous reasons that make him one of the least deserving people in the world who should be honored, he has single-handedly destroyed the United States Agency for International Development, which has saved hundreds of millions of people from hunger and disease, and promoted democracy and the rule of law around the world. In an executive order issued on his inauguration day, 20 January, Trump slandered USAID as “not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values” and claimed that its workers “serve to destabilize world peace”.

That act of malice by itself should be sufficient to erase Trump from the longest long list.

Clearly, the worthiest candidate for the Nobel peace prize, whether its name was submitted before the deadline or not, is USAID. Since its founding under John F Kennedy in 1961, USAID has supported extensive programs on global health, food security, education and democratic development that, by addressing the root causes of instability and poverty, had promoted a more free, peaceful and prosperous world for 64 years until Trump destroyed it.

As a general rule, there should be no shame attached to an organized effort to win the prize by Trump or others. Trump’s lobbying, though, is stained, as is much else about him, by perverse statecraft that has fostered conflict where none previously existed and his unquenchable need for cult-like worship.

Several world leaders, such as Benjamin Netanyahu, have written in support of Trump’s nomination at his behest, cynically calculating that it would curry favor for their own often nefarious and warlike purposes. Trump personally pressured India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, to write a letter based on the lie that it was Trump who had “solved” a recent military conflict with Pakistan. Modi was alienated by the improper request. After his refusal to submit a false statement, Trump imposed a 50% tariff on India, which sent Modi flying into the arms of China. There is no existing international prize for this sort of willfully destructive behavior.

The encomiums from Trump’s closest aides hailing him as the best candidate are symptoms of the sycophancy that is the eternal mark of authoritarian regimes. Fitting the historical pattern, obsequiousness within a cult of personality substitutes for honesty, fact and evidence. Trump punishes and purges forthright counsel, suppresses factual intelligence and expert information that is not falsified or distorted to achieve predetermined results, and dismisses evidence regarding medicine, the environment and energy derived from the scientific method.

The tenor of unctuous servility was perfectly voiced by Steven Witkoff, Trump’s all-purpose international representative, speaking at an August cabinet meeting. “There’s only one thing I wish for,” he said, “that the Nobel committee finally gets its act together and realizes that you are the single finest candidate since this Nobel award was ever talked about.”

The phrasing of Witkoff’s praise is eerily reminiscent of the words uttered in the 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate by the character of Major Ben Marco, played by Frank Sinatra, who has been brainwashed as a prisoner of war held by the North Koreans. He repeats over and over again his admiration for an army sergeant from his unit who has been programmed to be a political assassin on behalf of both the communists and the American far right. “Raymond Shaw,” says Major Marco, “is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.” In the movie, Shaw is awarded a prize – the Congressional Medal of Honor – based on the brainwashed testimony of his fellow soldiers.

“No matter what I do, they won’t give it up and I’m not politicking for it,” Trump said. He suggested the efforts to grant him the prize........

© The Guardian