‘He Should Receive The Next One’: Senate Republicans Push Nobel Prize Nomination For Trump, But Not For The Reason You’d Think

Two Republican senators want to nominate President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, but not for the reason many people might think. Instead of his recent work on Middle East peace deals, the lawmakers want to recognize his role in starting Operation Warp Speed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Senator Bill Cassidy from Louisiana and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso from Wyoming plan to introduce a resolution to officially nominate Trump for the prize. The nomination is about his creation of Operation Warp Speed in 2020, which brought together government agencies and private companies to quickly make and give out COVID-19 vaccines.

Cassidy, who was a doctor before he became a politician, praised the work and said Trump came through when Americans needed help. “When Americans needed a vaccine in record time to stop a once-in-a-generation pandemic, President Trump delivered,” he said, as per Fox News. “The Nobel Prize has been given for a lot less. He should receive the next one!”

This Nomination Comes With Some Interesting Timing

The push for this nomination comes at an interesting time. Trump recently said he wanted to win the Nobel Peace Prize for helping create a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. But the Nobel committee did not pick him. This is also not the first time Republicans in Congress have tried to nominate Trump for the award. Other lawmakers have put his name forward this year for different things, including his involvement in the Gaza ceasefire.

Barrasso, who was also a doctor before politics, said that Operation Warp Speed showed Trump’s strong leadership. He said the president made a usually slow government system work quickly to create a vaccine in less than a year. “Operation Warp Speed saved millions of lives in the United States and millions more lives around the world. President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his life-saving achievement,” Barrasso said.

Operation Warp Speed was a big government program that got billions of dollars from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. It brought together resources from many government agencies and private companies to speed up how fast vaccines were made and handed out during the pandemic.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, who Trump picked to lead the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, also thinks Trump should get the prize for Operation Warp Speed. He called the program a huge success for the country.

The nomination push comes after both senators had heated conversations with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a Senate hearing last month. During that hearing, Cassidy asked Kennedy about things he said against vaccines in the past, which seemed to go against supporting Operation Warp Speed. 

Kennedy said that he had spoken out against President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates, not Trump’s vaccine program. He also agreed with Cassidy that Trump should win the Nobel Prize, calling Operation Warp Speed smart because it created a vaccine that worked well against the virus at that time.