Trump, furious after failing to win the Nobel Peace Prize: disdain for the laureate and a "stain on Norway"

WASHINGTON. - The decision by the Norwegian Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize to South African lawyer Navanethem "Navi" Pillay for her efforts to promote international law definitively enraged Donald Trump, who on Friday night lashed out twice — at a campaign event and then in a lengthy post — against the choice, which he called "an indelible stain that will never be forgotten." And not only that. The US president, who reiterated that he should have received the Nobel Peace Prize for "resolving eight wars and many other things," disparaged Pillay — a jurist with an extensive career and defender of human rights — and avoided calling her by name. "I know nothing about this woman and neither does anyone else! In fact, as far as I know, no one had ever heard of her except for the fact that she obviously hates Israel. I don't know what this woman has done," he said. The former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2008-2014) chaired, among other things, the organization's independent investigative commission that concluded last year that Israel committed genocide in the Gaza Strip. Her awarding sparked the fury of Benjamin Netanyahu's government, which claimed it legitimizes "hatred" against his country. In a post on his Truth Social platform, he published a photo of Pillay with the news that she had been the one honored by the Norwegian committee. "This is the woman who received the Nobel Peace Prize over the great United States, whose representative, me, resolved eight wars," wrote the president, listing the conflicts, as he often does to congratulate himself and explain why he should have been the one chosen. This time he went a step further and claimed eight prizes, one for each conflict. "I am about to resolve, or win, two more: Iran and Russia-Ukraine. Both are moving at breakneck speed, but forget them. It's the eight I already resolved, any one of which, Pakistan and India in particular, would be far more than enough to win the Nobel. In fact, I should have won eight Nobel Peace Prizes, not just one," he explained. "Despite all of this, the Nobel was given to a progressive person who works at the United Nations, of whom no one has ever heard. In all the wars I resolved, I never spoke with the United Nations, they were of no help. The United States, represented by me, as its president, should have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but it didn't," he insisted. Donald Trump greets Mike Tyson at a campaign event in Syracuse, where he slammed the decision for South African lawyer Navanethem "Navi" Pillay to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. AP News Agency - AP Trump also took aim at Norway, where the committee that chooses the Nobel Peace Prize winner is headquartered, even though the European country's government neither decides nor intervenes in the decision. "This is an indelible stain on Norway, one that will never be forgotten. The Nobel 'Peace' Prize has been discredited forever by a handful of radical ideologues who are anti-democracy, and enemies of civilization!" he fired off. Although without mentioning the Republican leader, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, again explained on Saturday in an interview that the body is independent of the Norwegian government and that its only mandate is to fulfill the criteria established in Alfred Nobel's will. "The purpose of this prize is to recognize a person who, with courage and integrity, has led the way toward a more comprehensive world legal order. That is the direction our societies and the world must follow if we aspire to a more peaceful society," said Frydnes, in reference to Pillay. South African lawyer Navi Pillay, after the announcement that she had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, in Nuremberg. FRANK BOXLER - AFP Trump, who last year had launched an intense pressure campaign to be the winner, also grandiloquently explained that he saved "more lives than anyone in History" and gave a nod to María Corina Machado, last year's winner, whom he called "a truly excellent person." The Venezuelan opposition leader gave him her medal during a visit to the White House. "When she gave me her prize last year, she told the media that 'Trump resolved many wars and deserves the Nobel Peace Prize more than anyone who has ever received it.' Based on my record of PEACE, a record like no one else has ever achieved, I agree!" said the president. Minutes after learning she had been awarded the prize, amid a rain of applause in Nuremberg, Pillay had made an indirect reference to Machado's gesture, with a jab at the magnate himself. "If you applaud a little louder, maybe I'll share the prize with Trump," joked the 85-year-old jurist. In addition to the eight wars he described in his post, Trump added to his diplomatic achievements the recovery of all the hostages in Israel held by the terrorist group Hamas, the capture of the "world's evil dictator" Nicolás Maduro in January of last year, and the process to "turn Venezuela into a rich democracy." "Likewise, with Iran, I stopped them from destroying Israel, the Middle East, and Europe. I am also constantly preventing a war between South Korea and North Korea, and Japan and North Korea. Add China and Taiwan, and numerous other hot spots, which have not been involved in Wars, only because of Trump and the United States," he listed. "And on top of that, I have created an Arctic that will soon be very prosperous," he added. On Friday, the Republican administration had announced an escalation of sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), just hours after Pillay — one of the first judges of that court headquartered in The Hague — was awarded the Nobel. Donald Trump Nobel Prize New York