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Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News, World News
Britt Jones
The Chair of the Nobel Committee has responded after Donald Trump missed out on winning the Noble Peace Prize.
It was announced on Friday (October 10) that Trump has not won the prestigious award this year as it instead went to Venezuelan opposition leader and pro-democracy campaigner Maria Corina Machado.
She was awarded it during the ceremony in Oslo, Norway, just after people began to speculate whether the president of the US would hold the title for his work in creating peace deals between conflicting countries around the world.
However, when it was announced that he was not going to get the famed prize, the White House issued a scathing statement.
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Steven Cheung, White House Director of Communications, claimed it was all down to politics, and that those in charge of electing a person to secure the award did not want Trump to win, despite his work.
He said: "The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace.
"President Trump will continue making peace deals around the world, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will."
So, was this true? Did the Nobel Peace Prize go to someone else because they didn’t like Trump and his political views?
Well, not according to Nobel Committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes.
When Frydnes was asked about the fact that Trump previously claimed it would be an insult to the US not to award it to him the prize, and why he wasn’t chosen, he simply responded with brutality.
If you didn’t know, the deadline for nominations was 31 January, when Trump was just days into his second term as president.
This was far before he had the chance to broker any peace deals.
But instead of insisting on this being the cause, Frydnes suggested that went on to allude that media presence and campaigns will get nowhere with the committee.
“In the long history of the Nobel Peace Prize, I think this committee has seen many types of campaign, media attention,” Frydnes said.
“We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say what, for them, leads to peace.
“This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates and that room is filled with both courage and integrity. So we base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel,” he added.
But that didn’t stop people from pitching Trump as the deserving winner just days before the decision was made.
Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu shared an AI image of Trump with an award around his neck on Thursday, writing on social media: “Give @realDonaldTrump the Nobel Peace Prize – he deserves it!”
This comes after Trump announced he brokered a peace deal between Hamas and Israel in light of the war that has raged on for over a year in full-force, and decades in the background.
Do you think Trump deserves it?