Trump takes not winning the Peace Prize not very peacefully.

Here at Second-Hand News, we appreciate that losing an award can be disappointing. Most people manage it without looking like a complete dick.

Donald Trump took a different approach. At his Syracuse rally on Friday, Reuters reports, he attacked the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay and described it as an “indelible stain” on Norway.

You might think a man hoping to be recognised for bringing countries together would practise on one that had mildly disappointed him. Apparently not.

There are children at school sports days who lose with more dignity. Admittedly, they generally have an adult nearby to explain that somebody else is allowed to win.

The woman he hadn’t heard of

Trump called Pillay a “mystery person”, adding: “I never heard of the person. Nobody did.”

That second sentence is doing quite a lot of work. He has taken a gap in his own knowledge and generously extended it to the entire human population.

For anyone who would like to check, the Nobel Committee’s announcement supplies a few clues. Pillay is a South African lawyer whose career began under apartheid. She has served as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court, and as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The committee recognised her work for peace and international law, including efforts to hold people accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

So the mystery was not especially difficult to solve. The information was available in the announcement explaining why she had won the award he was complaining about.

He could have read it. He could even have asked somebody to read it and tell him the important bits. Being president does come with certain administrative advantages.

Worth winning. Worthless if someone else wins.

Sky News reports that Trump described the prize as “forever discredited” after it was not awarded to him. It also reports his renewed claim to have settled eight wars.

It is an interesting way to judge an institution. If it gives you the prize, it has recognised greatness. If it gives the prize to someone else, it is no longer qualified to recognise anything.

Most of us encounter this argument from someone who has just come fourth in a pub quiz. It rarely improves when delivered from behind a presidential lectern.

And the eight-war claim is not something we should simply copy into his application. Associated Press notes that some of the situations he counts were tensions rather than wars, and that his role in resolving them is disputed. It also points out that the Iran war he and Israel began remains unsettled. Ukraine is still waiting too: Sky reports that Trump says he is “close” to ending both conflicts. Close is not finished, however keen you are to collect the prize.

You are entitled to argue that your diplomacy deserves more credit. You are not entitled to mark your own homework, award yourself full marks and then shout at the examiner for failing to provide a medal.

Norway gets the blame

According to Reuters, Trump concluded his attack with: “And we will not forget, Norway”.

There it is. The man explaining why he deserves a peace prize has reached the part where a country is supposed to remember that it has upset him.

The award is decided by a five-member committee appointed by Norway’s parliament. Whatever his objections to its choice, blaming Norway as a whole is a remarkably broad response to five people choosing somebody else.

We need not pretend that every Nobel decision is beyond criticism. Disagree with the choice. Examine the winner’s record. Make a case for somebody else. There is plenty of room for a serious argument.

But announcing that you have never heard of the winner is not much of a start. It suggests that a little research might be in order before you condemn the decision and the country where it was made.

Pillay won. Trump did not. An aide could have drafted a polite congratulations in a minute, leaving him free to get on with all the peacemaking he says needs doing.

Instead, Norway got a warning that he would remember this. Perhaps next year the committee could send him a certificate for taking part.

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