TRUMP FOR THE CHAMBERLAIN PRIZE August 22, 2025

America’s newest war hero seeks a Nobel Peace Prize to recognize another of his astounding accomplishments. I see him deserving a different prize.

Granted, when it comes to war and peace, Trump’s been there and done that. On Wednesday, he called Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu a war hero for Israel’s bombings of Iran’s air defenses. Netanyahu did not fly on any of the missions, but he did order the strikes. 

Trump ordered the U.S. Air Force to bomb three key Iranian nuclear sites. He did not fly on that mission. But in praising Netanyahu as a war hero, Trump added, “I guess I am, too.” 

Giving a significant order as commander-in-chief may be necessary and politically risky, but military heroism doesn’t play into it. Still, there’s a key difference between the two men. Netanyahu served for five years in the Israel Defense Force’s Sayeret Matkal special reconnaissance unit. Trump dodged the draft during the Vietnam war with a podiatrist’s letter diagnosing bone spurs. The podiatrist’s daughters later claimed that Trump did not suffer from that malady. Their father did a favor for Trump’s father—his landlord.

Which brings us to Trump’s quest for a Nobel and takes us back to 1938.

That September in Munich, Germany, British prime minister Neville Chamberlain and French prime minister Edouard Daladier met with saber-rattling Adolf Hitler. On September 30, Chamberlain returned to London to tell the British people that an agreement had been reached. “I believe it is peace for our time.”

Chamberlain did not advance peace. He gave Hitler a piece of Czechoslovakia—the Sudetenland. On September 1st, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The Second World War began. Anyone who knows history is aware of the consequences resulting not from peace but surrender.

A week ago, Trump met with Russian president Vladimir Putin, responsible for the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Last Monday, Trump met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and European political leaders. Trump wants to end the war, which has cost one million casualties on the Russian side, 400,000 on the Ukrainian. A noble cause. His effort is hardly Nobel-worthy.

Trump literally rolled out the red carpet for Putin, who will accept an end to Russia’s “special military operation” only if Ukraine cedes a chunk of its eastern territory. This includes land occupied by the Russian army and land still held by Ukraine. The word from the White House consistently has been that Ukraine will have to surrender territory. 

Putin and Zelensky may meet at a Trump-brokered meeting. But why would Putin offer meaningful concessions, let alone withdraw? Trump, who claimed he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in a day, could have backed Zelensky from the get-go. Putin, the invader, might have backed away.

But Trump hero-worships Putin—a dictator without effective opposition. Before their Alaska meeting, Trump had insisted that Putin agree to a ceasefire. Didn’t happen. After, Trump could only say how wonderful a relationship he and Putin shared. And, didn’t he wow the Russian dictator with a ride in the presidential limousine known as “The Beast?”

Trump’s message to Putin remains clear: Peace is a sorry misspelling. You want p-i-e-c-e. Okay by me. Keep telling Zelensky how much.

So, I may soon nominate Donald Trump for the Neville Chamberlain Piece Prize. Well-earned, war hero. Well-earned.

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