Do they give a Nobel Prize for Bullying?

Update: I wrote the comments that follow 2 years ago, about half way into the Trump presidency. The US President’s proverbial Bully Pulpit had been converted by Trump’s operating style into the fact that a bully had become entrenched in the national pulpit. Many times since being elected as the 45th president of the USA, Trump has referred to his expectation for getting a Nobel Prize. That hope was dashed by his continued bullying behavior at home and abroad toward friend and foe alike, along with other objectionable behavior. The tongue-in-cheek question about rewarding a bully is worth mentioning as President Trump leaves the White House with a shadow over his Administration and his head. MickeyG

So, where does this thought come from? For weeks we have been tracking the negotiations between North and South Korea, between the US and South Korea between the US and North Korea, and even between China and North Korea. It looked promising that the leaders of two nuclear countries, the US and North Korea would, after decades of hurling threats at each other, would finally sit at the same table to discuss geopolitical issues related to denuclearization and demilitarization of the Korean Peninsula. At the same meeting these leaders could declare the Korean War officially ended with an agreement/treaty to that effect.

The US wants North Korea to get rid of its nuclear arsenal and North Korea wants the US out of a demilitarized South Korea.A missing element on both sides is mutual trust. Whatever modicum of trust that may exist between Trump and Kim has in fact all but disappeared, despite some recent nice words passing back and forth between the Supreme Leaders of both these countries. A meeting site was selected, Singapore, the shape of the negotiating table agreed to and Kim won some points for himself and Trump by allowing the release of 3 US prisoners held in North Korea.

A lot more can be said, and is being said now, in the media about the Summit. As I see it, there is one key hidden driver behind Trump’s strong, even persistent, interest, that has not been mentioned or highlighted as such … President Trump’s strong desire to “get” the Nobel Prize for Peace at any price putting self over country interest.

Trump sees it as a good possibility, if, and only if, HE can pull off having the SUMMIT with Supreme Leader Kim. Critics are already watching the US Administration’s collective body language become much less confrontational and more bending then recent threatening words to annihilate North Korea. Now, media reports Trump’s efforts at seemingly bending over backwards for Kim in order to get an agreement on the peninsula on denuclearization of the North and demilitarization of the South.

Stay tuned folks. We have no idea how far Trump will bend in order to get the Nobel Prize. Obama got it. Carter got it. Trump hates them.This would be a capstone win for Trump’s ego.

Does bullying other countries around the globe — not just enemies but friends as well, e.g. tariff war with our longstanding allies — merit a Nobel Prize for Peace? Does, as Trump apparently believes, the end justify the means? Personally, Perhaps there should be such a new separate Prize for Bullying. Nope: baaaad idea. I vote NO to setting a precedent for creating giving a Peace Prize for making threats of annihilation or for creating a new “Nobel Prize for Bullying.” Better yet , how about a new 21st Century Nobel Prize for anti-bullying?