The Nobel Peace Prize was conceived to honour leaders who genuinely contribute to global harmony. But if ever a new category were to be created—a “Nobel Liar Prize”—no one would deserve it more than former US President Donald Trump. His record is not of ending wars or fostering peace, but of manufacturing lies, double standards, and self-serving policies that destabilize the very order he claims to protect.
Trump’s tall claim of “stopping wars” crumbles under the weight of reality. The Russia-Ukraine war grinds on relentlessly, long after his theatrics with Vladimir Putin. Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump’s closest Middle Eastern ally, continues pounding Gaza, rejecting even the faintest idea of a Palestinian state. In South Asia, India has made it abundantly clear through its ongoing Operation Sindoor that any misadventure from Pakistan would endanger Pakistan’s very existence on the global map. Against these hard facts, Trump’s posturing as a peace-broker looks not just hollow, but laughable.
Worse, Trump seems to have taken a page straight out of Pakistan’s playbook of duplicity. His “friend in arms,” Pakistan’s Army Chief Asim Munir, and the discredited Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif are seasoned masters of deception. Trump is now perfecting that art on a global scale—lying to his people, lying to the world, and above all, lying to history.
One of Trump’s favorite weapons is economic blackmail. By unleashing a tariff war and coercing nations to stop buying Russian oil, Trump is less interested in peace and more in forcing countries to become customers of American oil. Fine, let the world consider US oil—but only if America is willing to offer it at cheaper rates than Russia. After all, why should NATO members, or India, wreck their economies just to make “America Great Again”?
Facts demolish Trump’s narrative. The United States is the world’s largest oil producer, pumping over 4 billion barrels in 2021 and setting new records year after year. In 2023, US crude production averaged 12.9 million barrels per day, eclipsing its previous 2019 record. By December, the monthly output crossed 13.3 million b/d—more than what Russia or Saudi Arabia have ever managed. Together, the US, Russia, and Saudi Arabia accounted for 40% of global production last year. In other words, America is not an energy beggar—it is the undisputed oil giant.
And yet, instead of offering affordable energy to allies, the US weaponizes its reserves for political leverage. Russia peaked at 10.8 million b/d in 2019, Saudi Arabia at 10.6 million in 2022, but both faced production cuts. America, however, has the capacity to sustain record output. The real question is: why doesn’t Trump pledge to share that bounty at fair prices, if his goal is truly peace and stability? Because the aim is not stability—it is dominance.
Trump’s rhetoric of “Make America Great Again” is less about greatness and more about extracting obedience. He demands that allies abandon their own interests and fall in line behind Washington. Why should India, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, kneel before Trump’s diktats? India has made clear it will not compromise its energy security or strategic autonomy, unlike earlier governments that meekly surrendered to American pressure. Modi’s India will buy oil where it gets the best deal—be it from Russia or elsewhere—and no Trumpian tantrum will change that.
Trump’s supposed peace credentials collapse further when we recall his reckless foreign policy. He escalated tensions with Iran by assassinating General Qasem Soleimani, tore up painstakingly negotiated international agreements, and reduced diplomacy to a reality TV show. His legacy is not peace—it is chaos in a new packaging.
For a man who thrives on falsehoods, the idea of Trump being a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize is an insult to the very concept of peace. His record is riddled with contradictions: he shouts against wars while fuelling arms sales, he preaches stability while fanning conflicts, and he boasts of prosperity while holding global energy markets hostage to America’s ambitions.
If anything, Trump should be honoured with a “Nobel Liar Prize.” He has elevated deceit into a global doctrine, rivalling even Pakistan’s notorious duplicity. His lies are not innocent exaggerations; they are calculated weapons designed to manipulate allies, intimidate adversaries, and deceive his own people.
The Nobel Committee exists to honour peacemakers, not tricksters. The world has no shortage of leaders who actually stood for peace—Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, or even Abiy Ahmed. Trump is not in their league. He is in the company of those who mislead, distort, and betray.
History will not remember him as a peacemaker. It will remember him as a salesman of false hope, an architect of instability, and a compulsive liar who believed the world could be bullied into his version of greatness. For that, let him have his prize—The Nobel Liar Prize.
