He might have missed out on the Nobel Peace Prize, but Donald Trump has been given a consolation gong for his efforts.
Two weeks after being snubbed on the world stage despite months of intense lobbying, the president received the Architect of Peace Award from the Richard Nixon Foundation on Tuesday during a private ceremony at the White House.
The award, named after the controversial Republican at the center of the Watergate scandal, was established in 1995 for people who embody Nixon’s “lifelong goal of shaping a more peaceful world.”
Trump has no doubt he’s a worthy recipient, claiming that he has “ended 8 wars in just 8 months” and describing himself “the president of peace.”
His latest addition to the list is the two-year conflict between Israel and Hamas—although the ceasefire now looks to be on shaky ground.
The other seven he claims to have resolved were between Israel and Iran, Pakistan and India, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Thailand and Cambodia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Serbia and Kosovo.
Talking up his efforts on Tuesday, Trump said he was a better president than George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
“(Someone said) ‘you are the third-best president in the United States’ ... this was on television,” he told Senators as during a lavish lunch in the newly renovated White House Rose Garden.
“So I said who are the first two? ‘George Washington and Abraham Lincoln’. I got very upset with this man... They didn’t put out eight wars. We put out eight wars.”
The Architect of Peace Award was presented to Trump in an Oval Office ceremony that included Richard Nixon’s daughter Tricia Nixon Cox and Trump’s former national security adviser Robert O’Brien.
The award puts Trump in the company of past recipients, including O’Brien, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and former Arizona Senator John McCain.
Last year’s joint winners were former president George W. Bush, and Farah and Rez Pahlavi, who were recognized for pushing for religious freedom and democratic change in Iran.
But MAGA Republicans are hopeful that Trump will get the big gong next year.
Last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson even announced he’s launching a campaign on the president’s behalf.
“I’m proud to tell you that together with my friend Speaker [Amir] Ohana of the Israeli Knesset, the equivalent of our Congress, we’re gonna embark upon a project together to rally speakers and presidents of parliaments around the world so that we will jointly nominate President Donald J Trump for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize,” Johnson declared.
“No one has ever deserved that prize more, and that is an objective fact.”
