Trump says he deserves a Nobel Prize

International Desk Published: 24 September 2019, 01:24 PM
Trump says he deserves a Nobel Prize

President Donald Trump said Monday he believes he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for "many things" but carped that the award isn't handed out fairly, reports USA Today. 

"I think I'm going to get a Nobel Prize for a lot of things, if they gave it out fairly, which they don't," Trump told reporters during a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan at the United Nations.   

Trump then argued that his predecessor, President Barack Obama, should not have received the award in 2009. 

"They gave one to Obama," Trump said, claiming that the Democrat had "no idea" why he had received it. "That was the only thing I agreed with him on."

Trump has raised the prize before, including to criticize Obama. The issue arose during the early stages of Trump's talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un following reports that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had nominated Trump for the prize. 

Asked last May whether he thought he deserved it Trump said "everyone thinks so" but that "I would never say it." In February he said that Obama received his shortly after taking office and added that, "with me, I probably will never get it."

Obama, like other recipients, did not know he was up for the prize: Nominations come from others.

In its 2009 citation, the Nobel committee said Obama was selected "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."