President Donald Trump has been presented with a “Man of the Century Award” at his latest rally in Sioux City, Iowa, by Republican congressional candidate Joe Mitchell – an accolade he created.
Mitchell, 29, a former state representative locked in a tight race for Iowa’s 2nd congressional district with Democrat Lindsay James, made the most of the president’s arrival in town, joining him on stage to address an enthusiastic crowd and pandering to Trump’s magpie-like appetite for shiny objects.
“I wanted to say, Mr President, for the last 10 years, you kept this country more safe than any other president, ever,” the candidate said, striking a distinctly Trumpian tone. “And they’ve never given you the Nobel Peace Prize, by the way, which is a disgrace.”
Holding aloft a framed certificate, Mitchell continued: “So, what I came up with, Mr President, is the new award. It’s called the ‘Man of the Century Award.’ OK? It’s the ‘Man of the Century Award.’
“And I’m gonna hold this up for the artificial media to see. CNN, zoom in right here, CNN. OK? Because this man has done more for humanity and for America than any other president ever.
“Thank you, Mr President, for being here. Thank you for supporting Iowa. And thank you for being the greatest president we’ve ever had.”
Trump graciously accepted the prize, shook Mitchell’s hand and passed it off to an aide standing nearby.
The candidate’s gesture came just a day after the president had spent time at his previous midterms rally in Greenville, South Carolina, complaining about once again being overlooked for the Nobel Peace Prize, a trophy he continues to desperately covet.
Rather than championing incumbent GOP Sen. Darline Graham as planned, Trump remembered the recipient of last year’s award – Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado – who had presented him with her honor two weeks after the U.S. military toppled Nicolas Maduro and extradited the president to New York City to answer criminal charges.
“Last year, the person who got it, a very high quality woman, you know who that is,” the president said, perhaps forgetting her name himself.
“And she said that, ‘No, no, I don’t deserve the Nobel Prize. There’s only one person in the world that deserves it.’ In fact, she said he deserves it more than any human being that’s gotten it because I settled all these wars.”
The president was less kind about this year’s winner, South African human rights attorney and International Criminal Court judge Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, 85.
“The woman that got it, I don’t know where the hell she comes [from],” he said. “The only thing I know is she hates Israel. That’s the only thing. She hates Israel with a passion.”
The president was presumably referring to Pillay leading a United Nations panel last year that concluded Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Israel has repeatedly denied all such accusations.
Trump continued: “I didn’t get the Nobel Prize. I didn’t get the Pulitzer. I should have gotten the Pulitzer for writing, too.
“The people that got it shouldn’t have gotten it, you know? They got a Pulitzer Prize for their accurate and wonderful writing on the subject of Russia, Russia, Russia. But they had it wrong. They all had it wrong.”
At another point in his address, Trump continued his attack on Pillay, albeit while confusing the prizes: “They gave the wonderful peace prize, right? Does anybody know the name of that peace prize?
“They gave the Pulitzer Prize to a young lady. I think she’s 80 years old.” The president himself is precisely that age.
Mitchell’s certificate can now take pride of place in the Oval Office alongside the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize that Trump was presented with by FIFA boss Gianni Infantino last December, which was similarly intended to soothe his hurt after being snubbed by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.
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