Dem
47
GOP
53
We've probably pointed out before that Theodore Roosevelt is the only person to have received both a Nobel Peace Prize and the Medal of Honor. In his time, it was not incongruous to be both a great warrior and a man of peace.
In our time, by contrast, it largely is incongruous. It's no secret that Donald Trump badly wants to join the Nobel Peace Prize club, in part because that makes him a more historic figure, and in part because it "ties" him with Barack Obama. But that is exceedingly unlikely to happen, in part because the Trump administration keeps killing innocent civilians, and in part because the people who vote on the Nobel despise Trump and everything he stands for.
That doesn't mean that Trump and his underlings are giving up, though. Back in February and March, the DOGEys ripped apart the U.S. Institute for Peace (USIP), apparently because peace is not a good investment of the government's money (even a relatively paltry $65 million a year). USIP isn't quite dead yet, it's just mostly dead, like the Man in Black. However, it's not the U.S. Institute for Peace anymore, either. As of last week, it is known as The Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.
Does this kind of branding actually work on anyone? Beyond the fact that Trump is obviously not a man of peace, he literally tried to kill this part of the government just months ago. If such branding does work, then why not expand it? The Bedminster Golf Course of Peace. The Trump Tower of Peace. Peace-a-Lago. The Peace Wing of the White House. We can only assume that this is some lackey (Secretary of State Marco Rubio?) trying to kiss Trump's posterior. Though it is possible that it is the doing of someone who wants to save USIP until a non-Trump president is in power, and who knows that there is no way Trump will kill it while his name is on it.
And speaking of kissing posterior, FIFA clearly misstepped when it awarded the 2026 World Cup to the U.S. There are many ways Trump could throw a wrench into the proceedings, and given his propensity for using sports to promote his political agenda, there's every risk he might do some of those things. That could be ICE patrols at games. It could be barring fans from certain (read: sh**hole) countries. It could even be detaining members of some of the competing teams.
That said, the last two World Cups were held in Qatar and Russia. So, FIFA leadership knows a thing or two about how to handle leaders who are corrupt, or bigoted, or authoritarian, or all of the above. In particular, FIFA President Gianni Infantino knows that such leaders tend to be suckers for shiny beads and shallow flattery. And so, last month, FIFA announced the creation of a brand-new award, the FIFA Peace Prize. And last week, FIFA announced that the inaugural winner of the FIFA Peace Prize is—surprise!—one Donald J. Trump. There's an almost delightful synergy there. If you were to poll people, and ask them to name the most famously corrupt organization in the world, we suspect that the top two finishers would be FIFA and the Trump Organization. And now, they've come together in a celebration of their... commonalities.
By all indications, Trump was thrilled by the "honor." It's absolutely stunning to us that someone who was a businessman for half a century, and who has been on the world stage for more than a decade, is apparently blissfully unaware when he is being played like a fiddle. It makes one wonder, and worry, about what happens when Trump is with someone like Xi Jinping or Vladimir Putin behind closed doors, with stakes rather more significant than a football tournament. (Z)