President Donald Trump is a very ego-obsessed individual — to put it lightly. He has touted his recent nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize as if it’s some kind of earth-rattling achievement, although any national politician or head of state can make a nomination. (In this case, it’s a far-right member of the Norwegian Parliament, Christian Tybring-Gjedde, who nominated Trump, after having done the same prior to the 2018 award.) Now, former vice president and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has also been nominated for the 2020 edition of the award.
Biden’s nomination came from a British member of Parliament, Chris Bryant, who is a member of the left-wing Labour Party. Like the Democratic Party, the British Labour Party has struggled to gain ground in recent elections. Bryant said, referring to Biden:
‘When others have resorted to violent solutions, he has argued that the best force is the force of argument. Because guns can stop a heart but well-placed words can change many hearts, and many hearts can change a world.’
Trump and his allies in the federal government have made a show of pushing some kind of diplomatic agenda, but they have not actually done much. One-on-one meetings between Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un went basically nowhere. Recently, the Trump administration announced peace agreements between Israel and a couple of Arab countries, but there was no active armed conflict between these countries and Israel, so the idea of these peace agreements representing a bold new frontier is pretty hollow. Actual armed conflict in the Middle East, in places like Palestine, Yemen, and Syria has continued throughout Trump’s time in office.
On Tuesday night, Biden and Trump will be facing off for their first debate. Trump has tried to characterize Biden as “sleepy” and senile and therefore unfit for office. Faced with the reality of Biden’s competency, Trump has recently resorted to suggesting that the Democratic presidential pick might be on performance-enhancing drugs. There is no evidence for pretty much any of these claims. They’re all nonsense — although Trump even demanded a drug test for Biden before the first debate. (Trump said he’d take one too.)
