Within the final act of flattery, Home Speaker Mike Johnson is launching a global marketing campaign to get President Donald Trump the Nobel Peace Prize he’s lengthy coveted—this time for brokering a fragile ceasefire in Gaza and securing the discharge of Israeli hostages.
“This is a historic moment that deserves enormous credit and recognition on the world stage. It’s truly, truly historic,” Johnson stated on Tuesday. “For generations, we have aspired to peace in the Middle East. Everyone around the world has. And now President Trump has delivered it.”
Johnson made the announcement throughout what’s develop into a every day ritual on Capitol Hill: a press convention in the midst of a authorities shutdown dragging into its 14th day. He opened the occasion by speaking not in regards to the stalemate in Washington however about Gaza.
President Donald Trump, proven in October.
“I’m proud to announce that together with my friend Speaker [Amir] Ohana of the Israeli Knesset, the equivalent of our Congress, we are going to embark upon a project together to rally Speakers and Presidents of parliaments around the world so that we will jointly nominate President Donald J. Trump for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize,” Johnson declared. “No one has ever deserved that prize more, and that is an objective fact.”
Ohana first laid the groundwork on Monday, saying Trump deserved the “highest honor” for his function within the Center East. Johnson’s announcement formalized the partnership between the 2 audio system—a part of a rising worldwide marketing campaign that already contains Pakistan’s prime minister, who made the same pledge with Trump standing subsequent to him.
Johnson’s reward got here recent off Trump’s journey to Israel and Egypt to rejoice the primary part of the peace deal. The president’s 20-point plan for Gaza remains to be fragile and early, however the return of hostages and the beginning of reconstruction talks are a serious achievement.
Johnson, although, didn’t mood his enthusiasm.
He known as it “an indisputable fact that no president has undertaken the work of saving lives and pursuing peace with such determination—and with such remarkable success—as President Trump.” He then went additional, proclaiming that below Trump’s management, the world is witnessing the daybreak of a “new Golden Age” for “the entire free world.”
It’s not the primary time Johnson has tried to raise Trump to Nobel standing. Earlier this yr, he claimed Trump deserved the award for a reported drop in crime in Washington, D.C., after the president’s takeover of the police division—a drop that began effectively earlier than Trump confirmed up.
For years, Trump and his allies have insisted he deserves the prize, with the president at one level claiming “everyone” agrees. However polling suggests in any other case.
María Corina Machado, a pacesetter of the Venezuelan opposition celebration, proven in 2023.
Based on a September Ipsos ballot for The Washington Publish, 76% of People consider Trump doesn’t deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, whereas simply 22% suppose he does. Even Republicans are break up down the center, whereas independents and Democrats are overwhelmingly opposed.
And Trump didn’t get it this yr. The Nobel Committee awarded Venezuelan opposition chief María Corina Machado the prize shortly after Trump introduced the primary part of the Gaza peace deal.
As Johnson works to spice up Trump’s worldwide status, he has little to point out on the house entrance. The federal government shutdown grinds on. On Tuesday, the Senate will maintain its eighth vote on the GOP’s short-term spending invoice, which Democrats have already rejected seven instances. The Home, in the meantime, hasn’t voted on something since Sept. 19, and plenty of members stay of their districts.
Pressed on why Democrats aren’t budging, Johnson grew testy.
“I don’t have anything to negotiate,” he snapped.
So, as a substitute of reopening the federal government, he’s launching a worldwide marketing campaign to get Trump an award—a handy distraction.
