Prominent Republicans and figures within the MAGA movement have renewed calls for President Donald Trump to receive the Nobel Peace Prize after brokering a peace agreement between Hamas and Israel.
Newsweek reached out to the White House by email on Thursday morning for comment.
The president has received a number of nominations and support for receiving the prize after brokering a number of peace deals this year, but the calls for him to receive the prize reached a fever pitch this week ahead of Norwegian Nobel Committee's selection due to the Gaza peace deal.
The final details of the deal remain to be confirmed, that hasn't dampened enthusiasm as Israel awaits the return of the remaining hostages taken on October 7, 2023. The deal requires the IDF to start a partial withdrawal from Gaza and that Hamas release all remaining hostages within 72 hours of the deal's finalization.
Trump in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday said that he thinks the deal will see "people getting along" and "Gaza being rebuilt" as he leads a "Council of Peace," which will over see the transitional governance of Gaza.
Allies of Trump have come out in full force to urge the Nobel committee to award the prize to the president, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who posted through his official account on X an image of Trump wearing a large Nobel Peace Prize medal, Netanyahu at his side and surrounded by a crowd waving Israeli flags.
"Give [Donald Trump] the Nobel Peace Prize - he deserves it!" read the post on the Prime Minister of Israel account.
Argentinian President Javier Millei, a libertarian and close ally and supporter of Trump, in a lengthy post on X congratulated the president on "reaching a historic peace agreement" and announced he would sign the nomination for Trump to receive the peace prize "in recognition of his extraordinary contribution to international peace."
"Any other leader with similar achievements would have received it long ago," Millei wrote. "LONG LIVE FREEDOM, DAMN IT...!!!"
Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, also congratulated the president, praising his "steadfast support for Israel" and "relentless pursuit of peace."
In a message on X, Pence wrote: "We are now on the path to what we pray will be a just and lasting peace. Blessed are the Peacemakers Indeed! God Bless You Mr. President."
Pence also extended congratulations to Netanyahu and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), stressing his belief that "peace follows strength" and crediting Israel's "unwavering pursuit of Hamas" for helping bring the deal to a close.
Within the MAGA movement, including Trump's cabinet, the likes of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina, and television hosts Laura Ingraham and Megyn Kelly have called for Trump to receive the prize.
Lutnick wrote on X that Trump "undoubtedly" should receive the prize, while Mace said Trump "deserves" the prize as "the PRESIDENT OF PEACE."
Ingraham wrote that if Trump doesn't get the prize, then the Nobel Committee should disband, while Kelly praised Trump for continuing to "see the impossible and make it happen."
Meghan McCain, a staunch defender of Trump throughout his administrations, wrote on X that "if Trump pulls this off and ends the war in Israel/Palestine he absolutely deserves to win the Nobel prize."
Former congressman and ambassador Rahm Emanuel, during his appearance on CNN's The Situation Room on Thursday, said that part of the problem is judging the "next steps" from Trump.
In his assessment, Emanuel said that what Trump "does next" is what he would say determines Trump's viability for the prize: "There's not an award for a ceasefire, there's an award for peace, and he has to achieve that peace."
Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, also agreed that Trump deserves the prize "if this sticks," adding that he would want to see Trump end the Russian invasion of Ukraine before earning the prize, but that if he did so, Fetterman would "be the Democrat leading the committee for his Nobel Peace Prize."
Betting markets have remained rather fluid about Trump's chances of winning the prize, indicating the uncertainty around the way his accomplishment might be judged.
On Tuesday, the president remained the sixth-favorite on Polymarket to win the prize, but those chances changed Thursday with a surge ahead of the announcement of the committee's decision - expected on Friday - but it may be too little, too late.
The deadline for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize nominations was January 31, just two weeks after the president's inauguration. Foreign leaders who said they would nominate Trump for the prize said as much well after the deadline, although the committee has the option of adding further names at a meeting on February 28.
However, BBC reported that the five-person committee finalized the list of winners for this year's prizes at a meeting on Monday, which is "without appeal."
Trump has long desired the prize, especially after Barack Obama won it in 2009 - the first year of his administration - for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."
Other winners include Theodore Roosevelt - for his role in ending the Russo-Japanese War - Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Yasser Arafat (in a three-way tie with then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and foreign minister Shimon Peres) and Mother Theresa.
The prize has also gone to groups such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (twice), the Quakers, and the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (also twice), as well as the United Nations itself and the European Union, indicating a wide latitude for the committee's decision.