[Guns N' Coffee]

https://www.the-independent.com/news...-b3072091.html

Trump presented with made-up ‘Man of the Century Award’ by Republican candidate at Iowa rally

President Donald Trump presented with previously-unheard-of accolade by congressional contender Joe Mitchell, who says his consistently being overlooked for the Nobel Peace Prize is ‘a disgrace’

President Donald Trump has been presented with a “Man of the Century Award” at his latest rally in Sioux City, Iowa, by Republican congressional candidate Joe Mitchell – an accolade he created.

Mitchell, 29, a former state representative locked in a tight race for Iowa’s 2nd congressional district with Democrat Lindsay James, made the most of the president’s arrival in town, joining him on stage to address an enthusiastic crowd and pandering to Trump’s magpie-like appetite for shiny objects.

“I wanted to say, Mr President, for the last 10 years, you kept this country more safe than any other president, ever,” the candidate said, striking a distinctly Trumpian tone. “And they’ve never given you the Nobel Peace Prize, by the way, which is a disgrace.”

Holding aloft a framed certificate, Mitchell continued: “So, what I came up with, Mr President, is the new award. It’s called the ‘Man of the Century Award.’ OK? It’s the ‘Man of the Century Award.’

“And I’m gonna hold this up for the artificial media to see. CNN, zoom in right here, CNN. OK? Because this man has done more for humanity and for America than any other president ever.

“Thank you, Mr President, for being here. Thank you for supporting Iowa. And thank you for being the greatest president we’ve ever had.”

Trump graciously accepted the prize, shook Mitchell’s hand and passed it off to an aide standing nearby.

The candidate’s gesture came just a day after the president had spent time at his previous midterms rally in Greenville, South Carolina, complaining about once again being overlooked for the Nobel Peace Prize, a trophy he continues to desperately covet.

Rather than championing incumbent GOP Sen. Darline Graham as planned, Trump remembered the recipient of last year’s award – Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado – who had presented him with her honor two weeks after the U.S. military toppled Nicolas Maduro and extradited the president to New York City to answer criminal charges.

​“Last year, the person who got it, a very high quality woman, you know who that is,” the president said, perhaps forgetting her name himself.

“And she said that, ‘No, no, I don’t deserve the Nobel Prize. There’s only one person in the world that deserves it.’ ​In fact, she said he deserves it more than any human being that’s gotten it because I settled all these wars.”

The president was less kind about this year’s winner, South African human rights attorney and International Criminal Court judge Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, 85.

“The woman that got it, I don’t know where the hell she comes [from],” he said. “The only thing I know is she hates Israel. That’s the only thing. She hates Israel with a passion.”

The president was presumably referring to Pillay leading a United Nations panel last year that concluded Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Israel has repeatedly denied all such accusations.

Trump continued: ​“I didn’t get the Nobel Prize. I didn’t get the Pulitzer. I should have gotten the Pulitzer for writing, too.

​“The people that got it shouldn’t have gotten it, you know? They got a Pulitzer Prize for their accurate and wonderful writing on the subject of Russia, Russia, Russia. But they had it wrong. They all had it wrong.”​

At another point in his address, Trump continued his attack on Pillay, albeit while confusing the prizes: ​“They gave the wonderful peace prize, right? Does anybody know the name of that peace prize?

“They gave the Pulitzer Prize to a young lady. I think she’s 80 years old.” The president himself is precisely that age.

Mitchell’s certificate can now take pride of place in the Oval Office alongside the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize that Trump was presented with by FIFA boss Gianni Infantino last December, which was similarly intended to soothe his hurt after being snubbed by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.

[x68000]

It’s a little early to give him the man of the century award when’s there’s 75% of it to go.

[chris]

[kellyhound]

Joe Mitchell, who has the biggest brown nose ever witnessed, thanked Trump for targeting bike lanes nationally, saying: Thank God you’re getting rid of those awful bike lanes and we ride Harleys here.

Mitchell’s comment immediately caused a massive backlash because Iowa is actually one of the most famous cycling states in America. It is home to RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa), which is the oldest, largest and longest multi-day recreational bicycle tour in the entire world, drawing up to 50,000 riders annually.

Existing bicycle lanes and major trail networks in Iowa are completely intact and remain open. However, because the Trump administration cut off federal funding for future projects, any new bike lanes in Iowa cities (such as the recent safety initiatives in Iowa City) will have to be entirely paid for by local and state tax dollars.

Also the Trump administration did not get rid of bike lanes in Washington, D.C. However, they mounted an aggressive campaign against cycling infrastructure, leading to a major legal battle over a specific, high-profile bike path.

In early 2026, the National Park Service and the Federal Highway Administration moved to rip out a vital portion of the protected bike lane on 15th Street NW, which crosses federal land near the National Mall.

Transportation officials claimed removing the lane was necessary to reduce vehicle congestion and prepare for heavy tourist traffic during upcoming celebrations.

Local advocates like the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) sued the administration. They pointed out that the corridor moved 4,000 riders a day and that traffic crashes had plummeted by 46% after the lane was built.

In April 2026, Federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson blocked the administration from removing the bike lanes. The judge ruled that federal agencies had ignored their own safety data and had decided to dismantle the lane in secret.

The U.S. Department of Transportation slashed billions in federal grants intended for bike safety, multi-use trails, and pedestrian infrastructure nationwide.

The Federal Highway Administration quietly removed references to bicycle safety, speed cameras, and bike crash analysis tools from its official web resources.

Because the federal government only has control over federal lands (like the National Mall) and federal funds, Washington, D.C. leadership announced that the city would use local tax dollars to continue building and maintaining its cycling network independently.

National transportation surveys indicate that up to 68% of vehicle owners actively replace short vehicle trips with a bicycle or e-scooter to cut high fuel expenses.

Urban bike-share programs experience massive ridership surges during gas price spikes, as commuters look for immediate, low-cost transit alternatives without purchasing a vehicle.

Historically, when fuel prices hit record highs, the number of active bicycle commuters in major U.S. metro areas increases by 15% to 23%.

The primary driver behind the surge in fuel prices over the past year is an escalation of severe geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, specifically the outbreak of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.

While the the Trump administration heavily blames Ukraine's refinery strikes for the record-high diesel prices, hard economic data shows a different picture though.

Global fuel prices are fundamentally anchored to the price of raw crude oil. The surge of Brent crude past $112 a barrel was triggered directly by the U.S.-Israel-Iran war and the restriction of the Strait of Hormuz.

Ukraine's drone campaign successfully triggered a severe internal fuel crisis inside russia, forcing local rationing, export bans and cutting their domestic capacity.

However, because russian diesel exports had already been heavily re-routed or restricted by Western sanctions prior to 2026, the global market was already insulated from direct reliance on russian refined products.

While Ukraine's drone strikes caused a shock to refined diesel capacity, the Strait of Hormuz bottleneck fundamentally broke the entire global crude oil foundation that Europe and countries like Brazil and Turkey rely on.

Siesel is actively manufactured in Turkey, Brazil, and Spain. All three countries have large domestic oil refining industries.

However, none of them produce enough diesel to meet their own domestic demand, meaning they are highly dependent on importing additional diesel like from the U.S.

To make up for their missing barrels, they aggressively outbid local markets to purchase diesel from alternate suppliers, including U.S. refineries.

U.S. refiners respond by ramping up their fuel exports overseas to chase higher profit margins. This directly siphons supply away from domestic inventories, triggering a localized shortage and price spike in America.

Pure-play refining companies like Marathon Petroleum, Valero Energy, and Phillips 66 saw their net profits quadruple during the peak disruptions of the crisis.

Multi-national giants like ExxonMobil and Chevron are reporting massive spring and summer earnings. Chevron's quarterly refining profits multiplied by six, despite processing less actual volume, simply because the sales price of fuel outpaced the cost of raw oil.

Because these companies are generating immense free cash flow, they are aggressively rewarding Wall Street investors through dividend increases and historic stock buybacks.

The Oil & Gas Refining and Marketing sub-industry has been the absolute top-performing sector on the S&P 500, surging 145.4% as capital floods into energy equities.

Refinery executives have seen their compensation packages climb significantly due to performance-linked stock bonuses.

R. Riggs (Valero CEO) got a $34.2 million total compensation.
Darren Woods (ExxonMobil CEO) got a $32.9 million total compensation.
Michael Wirth (Chevron CEO) got a $26.8 million total compensation etc, etc.

Refiners and Wall Street people that make money out of this are
Harold Hamm, being the founder of Continental Resources. He is Trump’s top informal energy advisor and a massive campaign donor. He acts as the go-between for Trump and the refinery CEO's to coordinate domestic oil supply.

Kelcy Warren, the CEO of Energy Transfer Partners (the pipeline giant that feeds raw oil into the refineries). He is a close personal friend of Trump and a multi-million dollar campaign backer.


Scott Bessent is Trump's Treasury Secretary. Bessent is a powerful billionaire Wall Street hedge fund manager. He shapes the administration's economic policies to ensure Wall Street capital keeps flowing into energy equities.

Chris Wright is Trump's Energy Secretary. He was pulled straight out of the fossil fuel industry (formerly CEO of Liberty Energy) to deregulate the sector.

The actual owners of these refining companies are the massive Wall Street institutional investment firms like BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, which hold the majority shares of Exxon, Valero and Marathon.

Official congressional financial disclosures released in August 2026 revealed that Donald Trump personally owns millions of dollars in shares of ExxonMobil and Chevron.

When Trump’s administration slashed environmental regulations and protected refinery margins, it directly boosted the earnings of the CEO's, enriched his Wall Street donors and increased the net worth of his own personal investment portfolio.

[ningem]

coming soon:TRUMP ocean,planet TRUMP and GALAXY trump!also united stated of TRUMP!
pure noble peace prize jealousy !also dementia!

[DarkSighted]

Possibly the biggest 'participation award' ever given. Fittingly, the very first one goes to someone completely incapable of realizing that.

[DarkSighted]

Originally Posted by x68000 ↗

It’s a little early to give him the man of the century award when’s there’s 75% of it to go.

OTOH, as humanity is unlikely to make it even halfway through this one (thanx AI), may as well do this now if you're ever gonna...

[foxfantastic]

This is tacky in SO many ways .

What comes to mind is "look daddy, look what I made for you at school!"

I mean, what value does this piece of paper have behind it? Absolutely none. It's a piece of garbage.

[Xploit Machine]

Darwin?

[William May]

Originally Posted by x68000 ↗

It’s a little early to give him the man of the century award when’s there’s 75% of it to go.

Don't be a "Negative Nelly" when it comes to MAGA Accounting! For them, 25% is almost, nearly 98%, and that's about 2199 or so, in hamster years. So quit quibbling!

All you actuarians, with your precise numbers! What a bunch of killjoys!