Trump’s name put on Institute of Peace, riling critics: ‘Truly Orwellian’
"Welcome to the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. The best is yet to come," the State Department announced.
The State Department on Wednesday announced it renamed the Institute of Peace after President Donald Trump, leading administration critics to slam the move as “truly Orwellian” and reminiscent of dictators.
“This morning, the State Department renamed the former Institute of Peace to reflect the greatest dealmaker in our nation’s history,” the agency tweeted Wednesday.
“Welcome to the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. The best is yet to come.”
The institute is a nonprofit think tank that focuses on peace initiatives. It was an early target of the Department of Government Efficiency this year, according to the Associated Press.
Trump has spent months openly lobbying for a Nobel Peace Prize even though he was passed over for this year’s installment — arguing he had a hand in easing a series of conflicts around the world. But Trump has also ordered strikes on suspected drug vessels off the coast of Venezuela and repeatedly threatened that attacks on land could be coming, which would be an act of war against that country.
Trump administrations critics found irony in the State Department’s announcement.
“Nothing says ‘peace’ like threatening to invade Venezuela and bombing unthreatening boats in the Caribbean,” tweeted one user on X.
“Well this makes me sick to my stomach. One can’t blow up boats in international waters, threaten a war on another country’s land, pardon criminals and drug dealers, and bow to Putin, and then claim to be peaceful,” tweeted Susan Whitmarsh.
“Trump’s boundless hubris: He consistently proves that institutions and the separation of powers are irrelevant for his self-glorification,” added another. “Renaming the non-partisan US Institute of Peace to the ‘Trump Institute of Peace’ is a stark warning.”
“This is truly Orwellian,” tweeted another. “Neocons know nothing about making peace. You lack the moral and philosophical foundation to be peacemakers. All you know is how to spread conflict, tension, violence and aggression.”
The takeover of the Peace Institute was also anything but peaceful, with his administration seizing the independent entity and ousting its board before actually affixing his name to the building.
