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Cassidy defends Nobel Prize nomination for Trump over Operation Warp Speed
Summary
Sen. Bill Cassidy said he and Republican colleagues nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for Operation Warp Speed, arguing the vaccine effort's speed and scale were comparable to wartime achievements and worth Nobel consideration.
Sen. Bill Cassidy said he and Republican colleagues submitted a nomination for President Donald J. Trump to be considered for a Nobel Peace Prize for the administration's Operation Warp Speed response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"If this was a hot war, Nobel Peace Prize, no doubt," Cassidy said, arguing the pandemic amounted to a "biologic war" with "millions dying," schools closed and governments and economies disrupted. He said the rapid development and distribution of vaccines—"putting shots in people's arms in 10 and 11 months"—warranted recognition.
Cassidy said some experts expected development of a vaccine to take 18 months or longer, and he contrasted that expectation with the accelerated timeline achieved by Operation Warp Speed. "It was remarkable," he said.
Asked why he and other Republicans were making the nomination while the government remained shut, Cassidy said the nomination was timely and compared the scale of the public-health response to historic wartime achievements.
The interview did not record a formal nomination document or any response from the Nobel committee or from other senators who might sponsor or endorse the bid.
The segment was part of a broader interview about the federal shutdown and legislative priorities; Cassidy linked the nomination rationale to the scale and speed of the vaccine effort rather than to other political considerations.
