{"id":369690,"date":"2026-10-10T07:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T07:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/369690\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T07:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T07:20:14","slug":"trump-veers-into-nobel-prize-grievances-during-upstate-new-york-rally-on-day-award-is-announced-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/369690\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump veers into Nobel Prize grievances during upstate New York rally on day award is announced | National"},"content":{"rendered":"

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump<\/a> veered far from midterm election politics during a rally in upstate New York on Friday, aiming a bitter diatribe at the Norwegian Nobel Committee for giving the Peace Prize he has long sought to South African jurist Navanethem \u201cNavi\u201d Pillay,<\/a> a former U.N. human rights chief, for her work on justice and accountability for war crimes and genocide.<\/p>\n

Trump unspooled a lengthy argument explaining why the award was \u201can indelible stain on the country of Norway,” saying he \u201cshould have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but didn’t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump claimed, as he often does, to have ended eight wars, though some of the conflicts the president claims to have resolved were merely tensions, and his role in easing them has been disputed. Meanwhile, the war with Iran that he and Israel started \u2014 which Trump predicted would last mere weeks \u2014 remains unsettled and is a weight on his party as it faces a dour electorate ahead of midterm elections.<\/p>\n

An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research<\/a> poll conducted last month and published Oct. 1 found 71% of U.S. adults disapproved of Trump’s handling of Iran, with 28% approving. The conflict has pushed gas prices higher, and polls show voters blame Trump for the high cost of living.<\/p>\n

Trump bitterly described Pillay as \u201ca liberal person who works at the United Nations who nobody has ever heard of,” adding: “The Nobel Peace Prize has been forever discredited by a handful of radical ideologues who are anti-democracy and really enemies of civilization. And we will not forget, Norway, \u201d<\/p>\n

Nobel diatribe eclipses political mission<\/p>\n

It was a lengthy deviation from an event aimed at promoting Bruce Blakeman, the Republican nominee in the race for New York governor. While Trump criticized Democratic incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is running for her second full term, he spent as much time excoriating New York Attorney General Letitia James, a prominent Trump adversary who brought civil charges against Trump and his business.<\/p>\n

As a result of James’ charges, a court found Trump liable for fraud. An appeals court subsequently threw out the massive financial penalty but upheld the fraud finding. On Friday, from the stage at the Oncenter in Syracuse, New York, Trump called James \u201ca dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump has been on a series of political stops, trying to stoke loyalty among his base as Republicans work to fight off possible setbacks in their effort to hold congressional majorities on Nov. 3.<\/p>\n

Friday’s mission was to lift up Republican Blakeman in the Democratic-leaning state. In Trump fashion, Blakeman, Nassau County’s executive, has suggested Democrats might steal the election, played up fears about immigrant criminals and posted AI-generated videos<\/a> depicting the state as dangerous and unaffordable.<\/p>\n

And while he invited Blakeman onstage, Trump spent large swaths of time pushing back against a national narrative that voters in the United States do not have faith in his handling of the economy.<\/p>\n

Trump tried convincing voters that the economy is humming<\/p>\n

Trump spent much of the first half of the rally \u2014 just 25 days before midterm elections that will determine whether Republicans can keep control of Congress \u2014 trying to talk past Americans’ gloomy feelings about the economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe poverty rate has just reached its lowest level, the best number,\u201d he said. \u201cLowest level in American history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe job numbers are the best. The stock market has soared,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

And while gas has fallen a few cents per gallon in the last week, it remains about 15 cents higher per gallon than a month ago, according to AAA. Trump briefly veered from his economic cheerleading to call on oil retailers directly to \u201cstart dropping their prices now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest AP-NORC poll, also found only 26% of U.S. adults approved of Trump\u2019s handling of the economy \u2014 a new low \u2014 down from 32% in July. Notably, only 17% approved of his handling of the cost of living.<\/p>\n

Trump has largely steered clear of political battlegrounds in his travels so far, focusing on red states and friendly crowds<\/a> at a moment when Republicans worry that his unpopularity<\/a> could drag down the party. The most closely watched U.S. House race in New York state is several hours away from Syracuse, where Republican Rep. Mike Lawler<\/a> is trying to fend off a challenge from Democratic candidate Cait Conley.<\/p>\n

Blakeman has emphasized his independence from Trump<\/p>\n

On the campaign trail, Blakeman argues he\u2019s winning over Democrats and independents, painting himself as the moderate candidate in his race against Hochul. He dismisses the idea that his closeness with the president could hurt his chances in blue New York.<\/p>\n

In an interview, Blakeman denied he was aligned with the president on everything. \u201cI am somebody who takes every issue and makes a decision based on good advice from smart people and common sense,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve proved my independence over and over and over again. I make my own decisions. I call my own shots,” he said.<\/p>\n

Hochul has emphasized Blakeman\u2019s ties to Trump \u2014 mirroring much of the Democrats\u2019 national strategy for the midterm elections \u2014 hoping the president\u2019s dismal approval ratings help sink her Republican foe at the ballot box.<\/p>\n

In a sarcastic press release, Hochul\u2019s campaign described Trump\u2019s visit as \u201can extremely boring puppet show\u201d and said Hochul, like Trump, is asking voters to pretend the president is on the ballot. \u201cWhy is Trump in Upstate New York?\u201d the campaign asked. \u201cBecause Bruce Blakeman, for some reason, begged him to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Collin Binkley contributed from Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump veered far from midterm election politics during a rally in upstate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[136452,416,417,415,63309,13305,9,11,10,49,51,50,85701,87,4727,37036,420],"class_list":["post-369690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-blakeman-hochul-new-york-governor-election","tag-elections","tag-general-news","tag-indictments","tag-iran-war","tag-midterm-elections","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-nobel-prizes","tag-politics","tag-voting","tag-war-and-unrest","tag-washington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}