White House lobbying for a Nobel prize for Trump takes a farcical turn
But as pitiful as this has become, Trump isn't lobbying by himself. Congressional Republicans have tried to please the president by nominating Trump for a Nobel prize, and foreign leaders eager to curry favor with the American leader have done the same thing.
And then, of course, there's the White House. The Hill reported:
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Thursday that President Trump deserves a Nobel Prize for his commitment to 'restructuring' global trade rates. 'I'm thinking that since he's basically taught the world trade economics, he might be up for the Nobel on economics...,' Navarro said during an appearance on Fox Business Network.
He didn't appear to be kidding.
Just so we're all clear, when economists receive Nobel prizes, it's because of their academic work and the impressiveness of their scholarship. Navarro seemed to suggest that the president should get the same honor for imposing trade tariffs — which as University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers explained, Trump appears to have settled on by 'scribbling numbers with a Sharpie.'
Roughly six hours later, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, reading from prepared notes, told reporters that Trump 'has brokered on average about one peace deal or ceasefire per month during his six months in office.' She added, 'It's well past time that President Trump was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.'
She seemed to overlook Trump's vow to end the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza — a promise he apparently doesn't know how to keep.
Nevertheless, to recap, the White House called for the president to receive one Nobel prize in the morning and a different Nobel prize in the afternoon.
But why stop there? Every year, the Nobel committee awards a prize for medicine — and Trump has presented some groundbreaking ideas about injecting disinfectants into people. Sure, the medical 'establishment' frowns on these sorts of treatments, but that's all the more reason to reward the president's 'outside the box' creativity.
There's also a Nobel Prize in literature that could theoretically go to Trump. Has the Nobel committee seen his weird letters to foreign leaders? How about his hysterical tweets filled with misspellings, weird capitalization and enough exclamation points to make an ill-tempered tween blush?
Or maybe everyone involved can just cut to the chase and simply rename Nobel prizes and agree to call them 'Trump Prizes'? Given recent events, it seems inevitable that some GOP lawmaker will introduce a resolution along those lines sometime soon.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
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