WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — There’s not much Democrat Joe Biden and Republican President Donald Trump have in common. Except now, both can say they’ve been nominated for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.
Chris Bryant, member of Parliament of the United Kingdom, told the London Evening Standard he nominated Biden for using the positive power of word instead of resorting to rhetoric that could lead to violence.
“When others have resorted to violent solutions, he has argued that the best force is the force of argument,” Bryant told the Standard. “Because guns can stop a heart but well-placed words can change many hearts, and many hearts can change a world.”
This week, it was announced President Donald Trump received his third nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, this time from Australian law professors, on the basis of the “Trump Doctrine” of foreign policy.
Trump’s two prior Nobel Prize nominations came from a member of the Norwegian Parliament for the historic Middle East peace deal, and from a member of the Swedish Parliament, for helping to normalize relations between Serbia and Kosovo.
Nominations can be made by a select group of people and organizations, including national lawmakers, heads of state and certain international institutions. In 2020, the committee received 318 nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize, of which 211 are individuals and 107 are organizations.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama was awarded the prize in 2009 only months into his first term, a move many felt was premature. The Norwegian committee said it honored Obama for his commitment to “seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”
Last year, Trump predicted he would win the Nobel Prize “for a lot of things if they gave it out fairly, which they don’t.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee doesn’t publicly comment on nominees. Under its rules, the information is required to be kept secret for 50 years.
The Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded in December.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.