So Much for That Nobel Peace Prize for Trump

He claims victory, demands peace, dares Iran, curses out/threatens Israel and Iran, all in one week--after he walked away from a deal that would've prevented all of this

You have to wonder what the men behind him were thinking then…and now

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BY BRIAN KAREM (whose podcast and Substack, "Just Ask The Question,” and related Substack "Reporter’s Notebook” are both Must Subscribes!)

So we’ve now had a week to look at Donald Trump’s big wartime President moment. It feels like just the other day Trump was begging for a Nobel Peace Prize. Oh, that’s right, because it was.

That’s not an exaggeration. One of Trump’s greatest bragging lines has been that he’s anti-war. So, after he attacked Iran, he tried to frame it as a move for “peace,” and then he posted a lengthy diatribe on Truth Social making several claims - mostly false - about why he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize:

But here’s the inconvenient truth Trump likes to forget (like most truths); Trump walked away from a negotiated deal in 2015 signed off on by five permanent members of the U.N. Security council and Germany, designed to prevent this very scenario from occurring.

So, Trump has yet again proven he’s an arsonist who wants to take credit for being a fireman. He’s still the same grifter as he’s been every second of every day of his life, and everything that occurred in Iran came as a direct result of Trump scuttling that Iran deal President Barack Obama helped to negotiate.

Trump went about destroying everything that Obama did because he didn’t like Obama. He didn’t care about the consequences and has tried, since coming back in office, to re-negotiate the very deal that was signed in 2015. But Iran didn’t trust Trump, so there was no deal to be had by the so-called dealmaker.

Trump is responsible for all of it - but that’s not how he’s selling it, of course. Here is some of what Trump had to say:

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"Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.

"For years, Iran has been saying death to America, death to Israel. They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs. That was their specialty. We lost over a thousand people and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate.

"In particular, so many were killed by their general, Qasem Soleimani. I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen. It will not continue. I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team. Like perhaps no team has ever worked before. And we've gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel.”

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Trump’s speech was riddled with his usual hyperbole, but by saying that he decided long ago “I would not let this happen,” the question must be asked: Mr. President were you lying when you called yourself an anti-war president, or are you lying now?

With Trump it’s probably both.

Trump’s threats and self aggrandizement were also on full display. It’s obvious he was hoping to make a splash that would rival the speech President Obama made when he announced the U.S. had killed Osama Bin Laden.

But he forgot he’s Donald Trump. So his bluster got in the way again.

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"With all of that being said, this cannot continue. There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight's was the most difficult of them all by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill. Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes.

"There is no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight. Not even close. There has never been a military that could do what took place just a little while ago.

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This came from a man who used “bone spurs” to avoid military service during the Vietnam war. It is harder to take Trump praising the military seriously now, considering how he has treated the military and veterans from cutting their benefits to insulting their memories.

When Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, near Paris, in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true.

“Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers,” for getting killed.

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Among his other notable gems:

"I was never a big fan of John McCain, disagreed with him on many things including ridiculous endless wars and the lack of success he had in dealing with the VA

"He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, okay? I hate to tell you." July 18, 2015.

"Look, I don't want any wounded guys in the parade. This doesn't look good for me." Summer 2017.

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Trump has denied having made even more disparaging comments about the military and is now trying to rebrand himself as a warrior and patriot. And now we’re at war. Not a declared war.

Like every other President since World War II, he just did went ahead and did it and Congress, which has exercised none of its Constitutional Authority—Mike Johnson is literally asleep at the switch—is complicit in letting him get away with it. This occasion is not unique in that regard.

Apparently at least one veterans group was unhappy with Trump’s unilateral decision to bomb a country with which we weren’t at war:

But Senator Lindsey Graham and other Trump allies were quick to circle the wagons around the President, right after the bombing and even more so in the week since, as he’s taken criticism from the Left and the Right.

Iran, of course, said the strikes had no effect and warnings were extended to American servicemen on bases overseas to be prepared for a counter attack. Drones and missiles are to be expected from one the largest sponsors of terrorism in the world - and the threat of terrorism extends to U.S. territory.

Trump may have said the strikes were an overwhelming success, but as often as Trump has lied about anything and everything, you cannot take him at face value. Nor can you take the Iranian government at face value. There is a history there that precludes trust on both sides.

But as last week wore on it became clear, via objective observers, that little was accomplished. Which begs the question, how will Trump follow up? And beyond the expected condemnations and lickspittle Lindsey Grahams, what will other domestic interests do?

For example, many Arab-American groups in the United States helped put Donald Trump in the White House. They voted for him as protesters chanted “Genocide Joe has to go” at various events across the country, in reference to former President Joe Biden who they claimed was “too close” to Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump’s statement pledging how close a “team” he and Netanyahu are will not easily be forgotten by the Arab-American community. But Trump either didn’t figure that into the calculus of today’s events or didn’t care to. He already got what he wanted from them.

The only thing for certain is that the world just got a lot less safe in the short run. No one knows what it will bring long term and Trump’s demands for immediate peace - to the Middle Eastern mind is a staggering bit of grandiose drama.

“To them it will be like a bully smacking you to the ground and saying ‘Give up!’ That’s not how it works,” a member of the Department of Defense told me on background.

The question isn’t ‘if’ Iran will strike, but how and when and what Trump will do afterward. This could escalate and get out of control very quickly, or it could end just as quickly - but I would not bet on that

All we can do is hold our breath and wait. So much for the anti-war president.

Brian Karem is an award-winning reporter, columnist, and author of "Free the Press," and seven others books. He has a popular podcast and Substack, "Just Ask The Question,” as well as a related Substack "Reporter’s Notebook.” You SHOULD subscribe to BOTH

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