Although some of his domestic policies and international trade agreements could be described as anything but peaceful, Donald Trump is said to be closing in on one of humanity’s most vaunted awards.
The Nobel Peace Prize is dished out each year to the person(s) or organisation that has ‘… done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.’
And Trump, largely for his work in trying to bring together the warring Russia and Ukraine, has been installed as the betting favourite for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, if you could imagine such a thing.
Peacemaker Trump
In more than a century of the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded, only four American presidents have been given the nod: Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 for helping to broker peace between Russia and Japan; Woodrow Wilson, in 1919, for helping to found the League of Nations and Jimmy Carter, in 2002, for his efforts in delivering peace around the globe.
They were joined in 2009 by Barack Obama, who the Nobel Committee described as going to ‘extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.’
Mind you, just six years later, the former Nobel secretary Gair Lundestad admitted his ‘regret’ at Obama being given the award.
“Even many of Obama’s supporters believed that the prize was a mistake,” he said.
“In that sense, the committee didn’t achieve what it had hoped for.”
Quite whether Trump would illicit a similar response remains to be seen, but it hasn’t stopped bookmakers like Paddy Power making him their early favourite for the award.
The controversial American president has attempted to intervene in conflicts around the globe, becoming one of the first politicians to broker something like peace – temporary as it may have been – in the ceasefire between Israel and Palestine… even if he did advocate for Palestinians to be ‘displaced’ from Gaza.
Trump has also been a middle man between his friend Vladimir Putin, the war-mongering Russian chief, and Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president.
However, it all comes as part of a transactional game – Ukraine, in return for Trump’s mediation, has promised to hand America access to its natural resources and minerals.
Julian Assange and Antonio Guterres are the next best in the betting. The former has a history of leaking documents that have exposed the torture suffered by prisoners of war, while the latter is the secretary-general of the United Nations.
The Nobel Committee has confirmed that 338 candidates have been nominated for the 2025 peace prize – 244 individuals and 94 organisations.
The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in October, which gives Trump plenty of time to sabotage himself. The medal is then given out at a special ceremony in Norway, which is held on December 10 to commemorate the passing of Alfred Nobel, the founding father of the award.
Next James Bond Betting: The Name’s Trump, Donald Trump
One betting market that Trump presumably won’t win is that pertaining to the next James Bond – although you never know, given that he nominated himself to be the new Pope just a matter of weeks ago.
But there was a significant move in the race to pull on 007’s iconic tuxedo this week… with one actor backed in to near even money favouritism.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson has signed a sponsorship agreement with watch firm Omega. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t exactly be headline-making, but in the context that Omega is the ‘official watch partner’ of the James Bond franchise – and that the next 007 will have to wear the brand on screen – it could yet prove significant.
The 34-year-old, who has starred in the Avengers, Kick Ass and Godzilla, has been backed into 5/4 with some firms since the news broke.
He shares favouritism with Theo James, the White Lotus and The Divergent star who has long been linked with the MI6 position, while popular movie news site IMDB has reported that Henry Cavill has already signed on the dotted line.
Cavill was quizzed by an American TV show on the news.
“I have no idea, all I’ve got to go off is the rumours. The same information you have,” he said.
“Maybe I’m too old now, maybe I’m not, we’ll see. It’s up to Barbara Broccoli and Mike Wilson, but we’ll see what their plans are.”
The Broccoli family have since handed over the reins of the Bond franchise to Amazon, who will produce the next iteration in their MGM Studios.