A phone call to Thailand and Cambodia or a ceasefire between India and Pakistan: Donald Trump seems to have a finger in every pie. Even in conflicts that the US has nothing to do with. Readers are wondering: where does this interference come from?
“Trump deserves the Nobel Prize, but the left will never admit it” is the title of an opinion piece that the American president shared on his platform Truth Social on Tuesday. And that has everything to do with his interference in wars worldwide, but more on that later.
That the US seems to be on top of everything is not surprising, according to Jelte Olthof, assistant professor of American Studies at the University of Groningen. The country is a powerful trading partner and has international interests everywhere, especially in the field of fossil fuels. “The US wants to have control over where all the oil goes,” says Olthof. In addition, the US wants insight into who has nuclear weapons and how many, in order to prevent potential wars.
But then there is Trump himself. What are his motives? According to Olthof, there is a clear distinction between the president’s two terms in office. “With Trump 1, the motto was constantly: America first.” The US wanted to interfere as little as possible with other conflicts and focus as much as possible on domestic politics.
American expert Kirsten Verdel agrees: “The US was previously always seen as the police officer of the world.” But the country wanted a different course and “was fed up” that it always got that role. Trump made this clear to the outside world: the US no longer wanted to interfere in other conflicts, unless there was something (financial) in return.
In Trump’s first term, the US remained relatively in the background in major wars. Although he also had the advantage of the corona pandemic, which made things quieter internationally, says Olthof. The Gaza war and the war in Ukraine did not yet play a role.
Trump 2, on the other hand, looks very different. The president calls himself a “peacemaker” at every opportunity and has been interfering in all kinds of foreign conflicts from the beginning of his presidency that the US apparently has nothing to do with. According to both experts, this has everything to do with his character and personal motives.
Obama wants Nobel Prize just like ‘eternal rival’
Olthof: “It’s like reading tea leaves, but it seems that he really wants to get the Nobel Peace Prize. He says that very often and I have learned in the meantime: if Trump talks about something very often, then he wants it too.”
According to the lecturer, this is partly due to his relationship with Barack Obama, his “eternal rival” who did receive the Nobel Prize during his presidency. “I think many people underestimate how much that has gotten under his skin,” says Olthof.
Trump does not hide the fact that he thinks he also deserves that prize. “I don’t get a Nobel Peace Prize, no matter what I do,” he wrote on Truth Social at the end of June. He mentioned, among other things, his efforts for peace in Africa, in the Middle East and in the conflict between India and Pakistan.
“He thinks it is scandalous that he has not yet received it,” says Verdel. “If he doesn’t get the prize, then in his eyes the presidency is not yet finished.” According to both experts, that is the main reason that he is presenting himself as the peacemaker or “president of peace” in all kinds of conflicts.
For example, he claimed responsibility last weekend for the ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia. “I am pleased to announce that both countries, after the involvement of President Donald J. Trump, have reached a ceasefire and peace,” he wrote on his own platform Truth Social. “Congratulations everyone! By ending this war, we have saved thousands of lives.”
Trump is not as active as he says
But you can take his role in that conflict and his self-imposed title of peace president with a grain of salt, Verdel believes. “Trump thinks that he ends a war with a simple phone call. It doesn’t work that simply, of course.” His actual role in such a conflict is also questionable. He didn’t really have one in the war between Cambodia and Thailand either. Although he says he does, “the action is not there at all,” says Verdel.
In fact, in some cases you could even see his policy as counterproductive. For example, he bombed the Houthis in Yemen in the third month of his presidency. And although he has been urging a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas from the start, Trump continues to support Israel militarily and financially. So there are enough question marks to be placed about his role as a peacemaker. “His position is very confusing,” concludes Verdel.