Trump’s claims for ending some wars ring hollow

The award of this year's Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuela's chief opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has added insult to injury as far as US President Donald Trump is concerned. After she managed to unify the opposition to President Nicolas Maduro, she was barred from standing for president last year in an election regarded as neither free nor fair. She has been in hiding since the election but has given press briefings from time to time.

The Nobel committee commended her "tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela" and "her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy." Trump tried to lay claim to the prize right up to the day before the announcement of the winner. He cited his imposition of a ceasefire and end-of-war deal on Israel which had been relentlessly attacking Gaza for the past two years. When the award was announced, Trump claimed the committee has "proved to place politics over peace."

In a bid to impress and court Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu nominated him for the prestigious award in early July. But since nominations must be made before February 1st each year, this would have to be for the 2026 prize. Furthermore, a nomination for the peace prize by Netanyahu would hardly be a recommendation as he is under indictment for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court and under his leadership Israel has been charged with genocide by the UN commission of inquiry.

Trump did not get this year’s prize even though he was nominated in December 2024 well before the deadline for brokering the Abraham Accords which in 2020 normalised relations between Israel and several Arab states.

Three serving US presidents have won the prize: Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 for ending a war between Japan and Russia, Woodrow Wilson in 1919 for promoting the foundation of the League of Nations, and Barack Obama in 2009 for cultivating international diplomacy and cooperation among people. Ex-President Jimmy Carter won in 2002, 20 years after leaving office, for conducting peace negotiations, campaigning for human rights, and working for social welfare. Former Vice President Al Gore won in 2007 for promoting climate change awareness and efforts to protect the environment.

On Obama, Trump complained, "He got the prize for doing nothing. They gave it to Obama for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country.” While Trump claimed to have ended Israel's Gaza war, it is not certain if and when it will end as Netanyahu has made it clear he intends to restart the war to eliminate Hamas entirely after Israeli captives have returned home. Furthermore, Trump provided more than $3 billion in weapons and munitions to Israel to wage the war and vetoed UN resolutions calling for the war to stop. Trump played the role of fireman who stoked a fire and asked for credit for trying to put it out.

Since taking office in January, Trump has claimed credit for ending seven wars as well as the Gaza war. He claimed to halt the Israel-Iran war but only did this by bombing Iran's three nuclear enrichment plants rather than through negotiations. Trump said he ended border skirmishing between India and Pakistan by mediating ceasefire talks. Other wars he helped to end were between Cambodia and Thailand, Armenia and Azerbaijan. He was unsuccessful with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. He claimed there was a war between Egypt and Ethiopia when there was no war. He said he had ended a conflict between Serbia and Kosovo but the situation remains tense. Trump made a vain attempt to end Russia's war on Ukraine.

Trump has caused chaos by exiting global organisations. He initiated withdrawal from the Paris Climate Change Accord, the World Health Organisation, the UN Educational and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trump has not restored funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) cut by the Biden administration. Trump has suspended some US foreign aid thereby crippling existential programmes in Africa and Asia.

On the domestic front, he has favoured increased drilling for oil and defunded research into renewals. These policies could raise US carbon emissions over pre-Trump levels. While adopting policies to cut waste and fraud in government departments, Trump’s administration has fired federal workers who are performing essential jobs and Trump has, in some cases, been compelled to rehire laid off or dismissed employees.

He has engendered anger by sending immigration teams to raid homes, farms and businesses to identify illegal migrants who have ben detained and deported. This is seen as a negative campaign as they perform jobs US workers refuse to due, such as picking fruit and in the construction, transportation, food, manufacturing, cleaning and health care services. A minority work in the high-tech sector. Without reference to the latter sector where there is a shortage of US professionals, Trump has signed an executive order to impose a $100,000 fee for highly educated applicants for employment visas. Indian applicants and companies hiring them have been hit hard.

Trump has also placed state National Guard troops under federal control and deployed them in Chicago, Los Angeles, Memphis and Washington, DC to fight crime although data showed reductions in violent crimes. A federal judge in Portland, Oregon, blocked the entry of several hundred troops. This is clearly a partisan campaign targeting Democrat led cities. Trump has threatened to use the 1792 Insurrection Act to get round court rulings blocking deployments. The last time a president sent in troops without a request from a state governor was in 1965 when Lyndon Johnson deployed troops to protect civil rights activists in Alabama. The situation is very different today.