Opinion | A Nobel Peace Prize for Trump? He deserves it more than many of the recipients

Michael Chugani says ‘Trumplomacy’ – the US president’s unique style of diplomacy – has achieved results in a shorter time than his predecessors

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US President Donald Trump gives a speech in Washington Township, Michigan, on April 28. Trump’s speech was greeted with chants of ”Nobel, Nobel”. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 4:30pm, 2 May 2018Updated: 8:16pm, 2 May 2018

A Nobel Peace Prize for US President Donald Trump? Go for it, I say. If a US congressional group can nominate Joshua Wong Chi-fung, Nathan Law Kwun-chung and Alex Chow Yong-kang for the prize, who’s to say it’s preposterous that war-talking Trump deserves a peacemaker prize?

Hong Kong’s trio got nominated for leading the democracy struggle during the 2014 Occupy movement. But Trump has achieved a promise of actual peace on the Korean peninsula. Did any of you, even in your wildest dreams, imagine North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would suddenly play nice by offering to give up his nuclear arsenal in return for a peace treaty?

Republican congressman Luke Messer of Indiana is gathering congressional support to nominate Trump. South Korean President Moon Jae-in says he deserves it. Hate Trump all you want. You won’t be alone. There’s a whole army of Trump-bashers out there. I shift between abhorring and admiring him. American democracy allows me, an American, to do that.

Trump’s war-talking threat to blow North Korea to bits had the astounding effect of bringing peace

But blinding ourselves to his astonishing achievements after just over a year in office would be ignoble. Bill Clinton signed a framework deal which eventually collapsed. His successors George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who both served two terms each, couldn’t do much on North Korea, either. Trump made progress in just over one year.

He’s no idiot even though US media reported over the weekend that White House chief of staff John Kelly had called him one, which Kelly denied. Trump’s war-talking threat to blow North Korea to bits had the astounding effect of bringing peace.

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