New Chatter About Trump: Time for Nobel Peace Prize

Friday's developments between North and South Korea had President Trump making an all-caps statement: "KOREAN WAR TO END!" he wrote triumphantly. Now others are making bold statements of their own, calling for Trump to get the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in bringing the adversaries together. A typical sentiment among supporters comes from Laura Ingraham of Fox News, who tweets, "When will we see the headline: 'Trump Ends the Korean War'? Unlike Obama, he actually deserves the Nobel Peace Prize." She wasn't the only one making the assertion. Details on that and other related developments:

• 2 lawmakers: Perhaps the most prominent voice on the subject is that of GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, who said the Korean pledges for denuclearization and peace "wouldn't have happened without Trump," per the Washington Times. “We’re not there yet, but if this happens, President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize." Meanwhile, GOP Rep. Luke Messer of Indiana is trying to drum up congressional support for a Trump Nobel nomination. “We are seeing unprecedented progress toward peace, and it’s a direct result of President Trump’s strong leadership,” he said.

• Ah, nope: From the left, Matthew Rozsa at Salon makes the case that Trump "had little to nothing to do with the meeting and that the lasting nature of the peace itself is in question." Countering that is Eurasia Group's Ian Bremmer, who hasn't been shy about criticizing Trump previously. "Trump, Xi, Moon and Kim together get my vote for the Nobel Peace Prize," he tweeted, referring also to the leaders of China and the two Koreas.
• Accidental strategy? Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times is no fan of Trump, but he writes that the president's "tightening of sanctions and belligerent rhetoric genuinely did change the equation," if inadvertently. Trump set out to "intimidate Kim, but it mostly alarmed President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and galvanized him to undertake successful Olympic diplomacy that laid the groundwork for the North-South summit."
• The big meeting: With the Korean summit over, the stage is set for Trump's own meeting with Kim. No date has been announced, and an analysis at Bloomberg asserts that some huge question marks remain that could scuttle peace hopes. For example, will the North agree to surrender its nukes only if the US removes all its nuclear weaponry defending South Korea and Japan? The North could drag the US into a stalemate with such negotiations.
• Too early? Trump's celebratory tweet was "premature, to say the least," writes Aaron Blake in the Washington Post. "If there's one thing everyone agrees upon, it's that the 'process' is really just beginning. The news was big, if not unprecedented, but we've had agreements between North and South Korea before, and they haven't panned out." Also possible is that this is more of the "good cop-bad cop approach that Trump seems to enjoy."
• The bookie: For what it's worth, British bookmaker Ladbrokes has Trump as the 2-1 favorite to win this year's Nobel.

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