One way to win Donald Trump over: Nominate him for the Nobel Prize

African leaders tell the president during a meeting at the White House that he should win the prestigious award

- Annie Linskey

President Trump often bristles at questions from the media. But he perked up when a reporter asked a group of African leaders if he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. "I didn't know I'd be treated this nicely, we could do this all day long," Trump said as the African heads of state—gathered Wednesday at the White House for a summit—opined on whether the Norwegian Nobel Committee should bestow its award on America's polarizing president.

Trump has long been fixated on awards and prizes given by elites, but nothing has captured his attention like the Nobel Peace Prize. In meetings and speeches, Trump often mentions the honor, sometimes complaining that he hasn't received it.

As world leaders and lawmakers seek to curry favor with the president, they have learned that flattery is often the most effective strategy. In lengthy Oval Office meetings in front of television cameras, they have lavished Trump with praise, hailing him as a peacemaker, a visionary and a transformational leader. Increasingly, they are adding to the list a public declaration that Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel Peace Prize was bestowed upon Barack Obama in October 2009 for creating "a new climate in international politics." The designation, given just months after he was inaugurated, faced backlash from conservatives and other critics of the then-president. Former secretary to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Geir Lundestad, told the Associated Press that the decision to give the award "didn't achieve what [the committee] had hoped for." The hand-wringing could, among other factors, diminish Trump's chances of winning.