Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize push: From the Politics Desk
Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, we explore how President Donald Trump is angling for an award that eluded him during his first term and how he is taking a more active role with major businesses.
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— Adam Wollner
Trump ramps up his campaign for the Nobel Peace Prize
By Peter Nicholas, Megan Shannon and Monica Alba
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — President Donald Trump and his aides are intensifying a public campaign to snag the Nobel Peace Prize ahead of a high-stakes summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Day by day, the White House is amplifying Trump’s role in curbing hostilities and putting out the message that this most combative of presidents is at heart a “peacemaker.”
Aides have highlighted his role in settling disputes between Israel and Iran, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Cambodia and Thailand, and Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, promoting “worldwide calls” from the heads of several of those countries for Trump to win the peace prize.
Trump is also touting his efforts to end a worrying conflict between two nuclear-armed combatants, India and Pakistan. He suggested he used trade as an inducement to stop the fighting, though an Indian official has denied that Trump’s mediation made any difference.
Now comes his best shot. Tomorrow, Trump will fly to Alaska for a sit-down with Putin aimed at ending the war with Ukraine. The odds of a breakthrough are tough, but if Trump brokers a truce on terms that are fair to Ukraine, it would be a diplomatic triumph that eluded Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
In the run-up to the summit, the Nobel Prize has appeared to be top of mind in Trump’s circle. Without prompting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt portrayed Trump as deserving of the prize in three of her four briefings in July. In previous months, she hadn’t brought up the award.
Trump has posted about the prize seven times on his social media site since his second term began, six of them in June and July. A theme of his is that while he has earned the accolade, he won’t win it.
“The president feels that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize but does not think he will get it,” a White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
More coverage of the Trump-Putin summit:
- Trump said on Fox News Radio that he believes Putin is “convinced that he’s going to make a deal,” per Lindsey Pipia and Megan Lebowitz.
- Putin sounded positive on the eve of the Alaska meeting, saying he believed Trump was making “quite energetic and sincere efforts” toward peace in Ukraine, Alexander Smith writes.
- Trump told European leaders on a call Wednesday that he doesn’t intend to discuss any possible divisions of territory with Putin, Katherine Doyle, Kristen Welker, Courtney Kube and Carol E. Lee report.
The CEO in chief: How Trump is getting what he wants from big business
By Rob Wile and Allan Smith
For years, conservative groups and corporate leaders argued that the U.S. government would be better if it were run like a business.
For President Donald Trump, who has controlled his own businesses for decades, that looks like taking an increasingly active role in individual corporations’ affairs, from manufacturing to media to tech firms.
And corporations are meeting the demands of a president who is more freely exerting his powers than he did the last time he was in office. At Trump’s urging, Coca-Cola said it would produce a version of its namesake soda with U.S.-grown cane sugar. Paramount paid millions to settle allegations Trump levied against CBS’ venerated “60 Minutes.” Two major semiconductor makers agreed to give the government a cut of their sales in China. The CEO of Intel met with Trump soon after Trump called on him to resign.
“It’s so much different than the first term,” said a Republican lobbyist whose firm represents several Fortune 500 companies, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly. “He’s just acting like a businessman. In his first term, I think he was trying to cosplay as a politician. He’s more comfortable in his own skin, too. He can explain deals better.”
Trump’s role represents a break with past administrations that may have been unwilling or unable, politically, to bring similar pressure to bear on businesses. In the past, small-government conservatives accused previous Democratic administrations of attempting to “pick winners and losers” by trying to regulate industries. Trump today stands downstream of a bolder right-wing movement that calls for enhanced state intervention in corporate affairs.
🗞️ Today’s other top stories
- 🚓 D.C.’s ICE policy thaws: The Washington police chief issued an order allowing officers making traffic stops to notify federal ICE agents if they encounter undocumented immigrants. Read more →
- 🥪 Cold cut: A Justice Department employee has been fired after he was accused of throwing a sandwich at a border patrol agent in D.C. on Sunday night. He faces felony assault charges. Read more →
- 🗺️ Redistricting tit-for-tat: Gov. Gavin Newsom called for a special election to allow a redraw of California’s congressional map to counter Texas Republicans’ push. Meanwhile, Texas Democratic lawmakers who fled the state signaled they were inching closer to their return.
- ➡️ Immigration agenda: The Trump administration is set to open a sprawling new immigration detention facility this week at Fort Bliss in Texas after months of setbacks, which may preview issues to come. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the opening of a second detention center in his state to house and process undocumented immigrants.
- 📝 Résumé check: E.J. Antoni, Trump’s pick to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was among the crowd outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with the White House saying he was a “bystander” who wandered over after having seen coverage on the news. Read more →
- ⚖️ SCOTUS watch: The Supreme Court declined to block a Mississippi law that requires social media users under 18 to verify their ages and obtain parental consent to use social media sites. Read more →
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That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Bridget Bowman.
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