The man who occupies a solemn office, who bears an honorable title, but whom a court of law has declared a convict on 34 counts of fraud and whom another court has declared to be a sexual offender, may have no real power of his own. He may possess lots of money, which many regard as power. However, some people with money – especially those guilty of fraud or theft — are subject to legitimate and intelligent interrogation about how much of their wealth and therefore their supposed power — is really their own.
Wealth and supposed power may come from all kinds of violations including, in this man’s case, the Hatch Act and the Emoluments Clause. This man may wield power, use power, and flagrantly abuse power, but none of it his own.
Michael Friday
Even if this man secured a mandate in the last election — which he did not — the power from those elections is not his own. Fewer than 33% of voters gave this man their vote. This is no mandate by any stretch of math or imagination. The power he appears to consider his own is a trust from the voters, under America’s status as a democratic republic. It is the people’s power, and he is meant to be the people’s chief servant.
What we also know is this man greatly desires a Nobel Peace Prize. He clearly recognizes — and covets — the power of the prize. This man may have the power to pardon himself (which is currently unnecessary since the Republican supermajority on the Supreme Court of the United States appears to do so at every turn); but he has no power to grant himself the Nobel Peace Prize.
No matter how adamantly or stridently his press secretary or “his” attorney general demand it, neither he nor his regime has the power to secure it.
We are yet to see if the turn of events in Gaza will hold up and yield some measure of peace in that region. Ordinarily, if it did, any person or leader who prosecuted and procured it might be entirely worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. On the face of it, this man might be manifestly deserving of it. Ordinarily.
“The power of that prize should be matched by the power of integrity, the power of justice and the power of real and lasting peace.”
But the power of eligibility for a powerful Nobel Peace Prize appears to have consistently been accompanied by the power of integrity and justice. To be clear, the power of that prize should be matched by the power of integrity, the power of justice and the power of real and lasting peace. Then it immediately begins to beg the question: Does this seeker possess those other powers required by the one he seeks?
To be certain, the prize has been awarded to convicts and accused people in the past; but we are talking about people like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Carl von Ossietzky, Liu Xiaobo, Ales Bialiatski and Narges Mohammadi, all of whom were convicted or jailed by oppressive and repressive regimes as they struggled for justice for others — not their own enrichment and benefit. However, the prize-seeker of whom we speak — even if lasting peace in Gaza, Palestine and Israel occurs and prevails, and even if he is found to have been a key architect thereof and deserving of the prize — is manifestly and woefully bereft of the measure of the power of integrity worthy of the power of a Nobel Peace Prize, even if the required measure or integrity is as small as a mustard seed.
If peace holds in Gaza, Palestine and Israel, I am in the front of the line in favor of urging the Nobel Committee use their power — a power not possessed by this prize-seeker — to promise to grant him the Nobel Peace Prize, all things being equal. But there are caveats and conditions.
First, this man must demonstrate, for the rest of his service, the ability to use power only for peace, cease and desist immediately using it for retribution, self-indulgence and oppression.
Second, having brought peace to Gaza and Israel (supposedly) he must now bring peace to America, American citizens, residents, asylum seekers and minorities by the appropriate and legal use of the military, the Department of Justice, the Treasury and more.
Third, he must stop enabling Ukraine’s neighbor to their east to rob them of their peace, patrimony and people.
“He must admit he did lose the 2020 election.”
Fourth, he must admit he did lose the 2020 election and confess that the lie that he did not has rained down intolerable lack of peace and progress in his nation since.
Fifth, the prize would be announced and delivered no earlier than one year after he has exited office at the end of the 2028 elections, and has returned a certain aircraft to either the Saudis or the Pentagon, and has returned every penny improperly secured through the abuse of the office for eight years.
Sixth, he shall have apologized to all the people he shall have prosecuted unjustly, pursued maliciously and destroyed mercilessly, and given each a monetary compensation out of his own pocket.
Seventh, as his final contribution to peace and to prove his integrity worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize, he shall receive that prize only after he has confessed all of his sins and crimes against America and humanity and thrown himself at the mercy of the next president for that person’s power of the pardon, for which he shall not lobby.
For in the final analysis the demonstration of having real power is the ability to not just give it away, not just to share it, but primarily to submit oneself to it, to the authority of others and to the course and demands of justice.
There is real power in the Nobel Peace Prize. If a man desperately wants it, he should demonstrate, like all other recipients, the power of integrity, humility and even the power of suffering on behalf of others. Christians, who talk about the power of a Cross, should know that power and should neither expect nor encourage any less from any seeker of the powerful prize.
Michael Friday serves as executive Minister of the American Baptist Churches of Greater Indianapolis and is author of the book And Lead Us Not Into Dysfunction: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, of Church institutions and Their Leaders. He has served Baptists in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and the USA.