Trump Blames Norway’s Nobel Committee While the Iran Conflict Still Rages

On Friday night in upstate New York, former President Donald Trump veered far from the usual campaign‑trail script. Instead of talking policy or the looming midterm elections, he launched a long‑winded tirade against the Norwegian Nobel Committee for awarding the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to South African jurist Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, a former UN human‑rights chief.

"This is an indelible stain on Norway," Trump declared to a cheering crowd at the Oncenter in Syracuse. "I should have gotten the Nobel Peace Prize, but they gave it to someone nobody has ever heard of." He went on to label Pillay a “liberal person who works at the United Nations,” adding that the prize had been “discredited by a handful of radical ideologues who are anti‑democracy.”

It wasn’t just an attack on Norway. The former president used the moment to remind the audience of his self‑styled peace‑keeping résumé. He claimed he had ended eight wars, a line he’s repeated for years, even though historians note that many of those conflicts were merely diplomatic tensions rather than full‑blown wars.

The war with Iran, which Trump and Israel sparked earlier this year and which he once bragged would be over in weeks, is still simmering. The conflict has pushed gasoline prices higher and, according to a recent AP‑NORC poll released on Oct. 1, 71 % of U.S. adults disapprove of Trump’s handling of the Iran situation.

During the same rally, Trump also wasted little time slamming New York’s Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul and the state’s Attorney General Letitia James, who recently brought civil fraud charges against him. "She’s a dog," he shouted at James, a comment that drew a mix of laughter and uneasy silence from the crowd.

Trump’s primary purpose that evening, however, was to boost the campaign of Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive who’s trying to paint himself as a moderate alternative to Hochul. Blakeman has been leaning on Trump’s endorsement, but he insisted onstage that he makes his own decisions, saying, "I’ve proved my independence over and over and over again."

While the former president was busy attacking the Nobel Committee, he also tried to spin the economy in a more positive light. "The poverty rate is at its lowest level ever," he boasted, followed quickly by claims that job numbers are the best they’ve ever been and the stock market has “soared.” In reality, gas prices have only dipped a few cents per gallon this week and remain roughly 15 cents higher than a month ago, according to the AAA.

The same AP‑NORC poll that scolded his Iran policy also showed just 26 % of Americans approve of Trump’s economic stewardship, a new low that has Republicans worrying about a possible drag‑down effect on their congressional hopes in the November 3 midterms.

Trump’s choice to focus on a foreign‑policy grievance rather than his own electoral strategy is telling. He’s been criss‑crossing the country, stopping mainly in red‑state strongholds, perhaps trying to rally his base while the party grapples with his unpopularity. Meanwhile, in New York, the most closely watched House race – between Rep. Mike Lawler and Democrat Cait Conley – is just hours away, adding another layer of tension to an already charged political climate.

As the night wound down, the message was clear: Trump sees the Nobel Peace Prize as a badge he deserves, and he’s not shy about letting the world – and the voters – know it. Whether that resonance translates into votes remains to be seen, but the spectacle certainly gave the media something to talk about beyond the usual campaign talking points.