NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
If only there were a prize for moronic ideas.
An apple-polishing group of 18 Republican members of Congress signed a letter Wednesday addressed to the Nobel Prize committee recommending President Trump for the Peace Prize, the most coveted human rights honor in the world.
The tuchus-smooching letter was penned by Indiana Rep. Luke Messer, who badly needs Trump's support in a tight upcoming election. The Midwestern pol gushed over what he and his colleagues see as the President's diplomacy, and others see as threats and war-mongering, to get North and South Korea to sit down and talk peace.
"Since taking office, President Trump has worked tirelessly to apply maximum pressure on North Korea to end its illicit weapons program and bring peace to the region," the congressman fawned.
The idea of giving the President the vaunted gold disk gained momentum Saturday at a Trump political rally in Michigan.
As the President began his talk about the denuclearization of the hostile nation, the crowd began to chant "Nobel! Nobel! Nobel!"
That followed North Korean strongman Kim Jong Un's promise last week to abandon his nuclear program and meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in for negotiations to end nearly 70 years of hostility between the two nations.
The thought of giving the highest human rights honor to the man who taunted Communist Kim by calling him "Little Rocket Man" and has threatened the famously unstable dictator with nuclear annihilation, prompted spit-takes across the city and around the country on Wednesday.
The Nobel Peace Prize the most coveted human rights honor in the world. (Google/Google)
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"I thought you had to accomplish something to obtain the prize," said Michael Avenetti, the lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels, who is suing Trump for defamation. "Nothing has actually happened (in North Korea). I mean, they don't hand out the Super Bowl rings before the game."
New York Rep. Adrianno Espaillat (D-Manhattan) was more reserved, but no less aghast, at the notion of awarding the Peace Prize to a leader who once bragged that his nuclear button was bigger than the North Korean dictator's.
"I don't think we are a safer world now than we were a year ago," the congressman said. "I understand the seriousness of the North Korea and South Korea conflict ... the rest of the world is in danger. A nomination to such a prestigious award should not be a partisan gaming opportunity."
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson also shot down the idea of giving a prestigious award to a President who has ironically called for more immigration from Norway, which awards the Peace Prize, rather than the "shithole countries" of the developing world. For Johnson, a Trump nod doesn't even come close.
"He is the least-deserving human being on the planet," the speaker said. "He's a liar with no integrity who has destabilized the pillars of our democracy for his personal gain while peddling conspiracy theories about his enemies. Seriously — no."
Public Advocate Letitia James also called BS on the gambit.
"He should share it with Putin and Assad," she said, referring to the monstrous Vladimir Putin of Russia and Bashar Assad of Syria, both of whom are known for human wrongs rather than human rights.
New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, a Democrat, said Trump doesn't even come close to deserving a Nobel Prize. (Anthony DelMundo/New York Daily News)
New Yorkers likewise balked at the idea that allies Moon and Trump could bring Kim in to be their Seoul-mate.
"He didn't do s--t about North Korea," said Maria Mykolenko, 59, of the Upper West Side.
"The Nobel committee is not that stupid. ... It's a peace prize. He's a person who gets people to hate each other," the violin teacher and composer added.
"Frankly, I think the idea of giving Trump a peace prize is just a huge joke," said TV director John Gray, 60, of the Upper West Side. "We all know he's irrationally competitive with Obama, so I think a lot of this is about trying to best him or be equal to him, which he will never be. Even with Obama's faults, Trump will never be anywhere near him."
Former President Barack Obama famously, and surprisingly to many — including himself — received the award in 2009, less than nine months after he took office "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," according to the prize committee. Three other American Presidents have won the award.
Theodore Roosevelt received it in 1906 for peace negotiations between Russian and Japan. Woodrow Wilson was honored in 1919 for establishing the League of Nations. Jimmy Carter won in 2002 for his lifetime of work in conflict resolution.
Obama, however, expressed humility over the award, saying, "To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize."
Former President Barack Obama received the Nobel Prize in 2009. He's won of four presidents to win the award. (MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images)
Some experts have suggested that giving Trump the prize, whether he deserves it or not, could have a positive effect — but not necessarily for the Koreas.
Yale psychiatry professor Bandy Lee, who specializes in de-escalating international violence, said the laurels could flatter the President's ego and keep the easily distracted leader from focusing on keeping out illegal immigrants or starting a trade war.
"Offering the Nobel Peace Prize could help keep the President from his natural impulse to attack, but it would be a perverted use of it, when what he really needs is an evaluation of his capacity to serve."
Ultimately, Lee said, the real credit for peace talks belongs to the South Korean president.
But Moon says to give it to Trump — the Nobel is not the prize he seeks.
"It's really President Trump who should receive it. We can just take peace," Moon was quoted by his office as saying.
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