Donald Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize — and suddenly has the same odds of winning as Bill Gates does

President Donald Trump began the week as a 100-to-1 longshot to take home this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, but his odds improved dramatically after he was nominated for the award by a right-wing, anti-immigration lawmaker in Norway.

The Progress Party’s Christian Tybring-Gjedde, in an interview with Fox News, cited the peace deal brokered by the U.S. between Israel and the United Arab Emirates as the reason for the nomination. (Tybring-Gjedde reportedly also nominated Trump for the prize, in tandem with North Korean autocrat Kim Jung-un, a year ago.)

“For his merit, I think he has done more trying to create peace between nations than most other Peace Prize nominees,” Tybring-Gjedde said.

With that, online bookie Betfair said that Trump went from a dark horse to a dead heat with Microsoft MSFT, 0.13% co-founder Bill Gates, whose public health philanthropy has made him a constant media presence during the pandemic, for seventh most likely to win.

“Donald Trump’s shock inclusion has seen the odds of him winning the prize he has craved for so long fall significantly,” Betfair’s Sam Rosbottom said in a statement. “And now in a year where he is an 11/10 shot to win re-election, it’s impossible to rule him out entirely. “

Those calling for a circumspect take on the Trump nomination asserted that there are typically hundreds of nominees for the award — with academics and others, along with lawmakers, eligible to put names forward for consideration — and noted that the Nobel committee seals nomination records for decades.

Still, as far as world leaders go, New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, who has gained praise for her response to the coronavirus outbreak, is far and away the favorite at 5-to-1, trailing only the World Health Organization and Greta Thunberg as the odds-on winners.

Here’s the betting breakdown:

• World Health Organisation: 5/2
• Greta Thunberg: 3/1
• Jacinda Ardern: 5/1
• UNHCR: 12/1
• Black Lives Matter: 16/1
• Moon Jae-In: 18/1
• Donald Trump: 20/1
• Bill Gates: 20/1
• Julian Assange: 33/1
• Vladimir Putin: 33/1
• Emmanuel Macron: 35/1
• Boris Johnson: 50/1
• Joe Biden: 50/1
• Michelle Obama: 55/1
• Kim Jong-un: 60/1

The Trump White House sought to make hay from the reported nomination of a U.S. president whose predecessor, Barack Obama, was a 2009 honoree but confessed seven years later to being puzzled as to why.

“This peace deal is a testament to the bold diplomacy and vision of President Trump, and he is honored to be considered by the Nobel Committee,” the White House said in a Wednesday statement.

Of course, the notion of Trump as this year’s winner lit a fire on Twitter TWTR, 0.12%. Here are just a few of the responses from both across the spectrum:

The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize is set to be announced on Oct. 9. 

Reprinted from marketwatch, the copyright all reserved by the original author.

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