When Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen led the first expedition of any kind to reach the North Pole, flying over the polar ice cap in the airship Norge in 1926, he didn't insist on planting the Norwegian flag first.
asserted
he → lead → flag
As his ship passed over the region, he magnanimously dropped Norway's flag over the side of the vessel along with flags of Italy and the United States, his two main collaborators in the historic trip.
asserted
he → pass → trip
Nor have the heirs of a much earlier Norwegian adventurer, Norseman Leif Erikson, thrown their toys and exploded with rage over the centuries in which US historians and history books have ignored the fact that Erikson discovered North America around 10,000 AD – five centuries before Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
asserted
Columbus → throw → ocean
Both redoubtable men could teach Donald Trump a lesson or two about how to keep one's head in a crisis.
uncertain
men → teach → crisis
The US President certainly lost his on Sunday when, during a rally in Port Huron, Michigan, he complained to his audience that the Nobel Peace Prize – an award he has long coveted – had been 'gotten by a woman nobody had ever heard of': South African Navanethem 'Navi' Pillay.
asserted
nobody → lose → woman
However, Trump reserved his worst invective for the people who had given Pillay, a human rights lawyer and former International Criminal Court judge, the prize – the five-member Oslo-based Norwegian Nobel Committee.
asserted
who → reserve → prize
'So I'm not in love with Norway,' he went on.
asserted
he → go → Norway
'Frankly, Norway sucks.
asserted
Norway → suck → ?
Norway has become a s***house country, actually.'
'Now it's crazy what's going on out there.
asserted
what → become → ?
It's called the world of politics.'
asserted
It → call → politics
Unfortunately for Mr Trump, the 'world of politics' may be about to hand out a humiliating blow to his ego and to the rest of his second White House term in next week's midterm election – which is surely why his failure to get the Peace Prize now, at the precise time he could do with a victory, has so infuriated him.
uncertain
he → hand → him
At the recent rally, he even suggested that the US should accept fewer Norwegian immigrants, complaining, 'I didn't get the Nobel Prize.
uncertain
I → suggest → Prize
So I don't want anybody from Norway…
asserted
I → want → Norway
I don't want anything to do with Norway.'
asserted
I → want → Norway
Earlier this month, Trump described the decision to give the Peace Prize to Navi Pillay as an 'indelible stain on the country of Norway.
asserted
Trump → describe → Norway
In Michigan on Sunday, Trump complained to his audience that the Nobel Peace Prize – an award he has long coveted – had been 'gotten by a woman nobody had ever heard of'
'Frankly, Norway sucks.
asserted
Norway → complain → woman
Norway has become a s***house country, actually,' Trump said
Trump described the decision to give the Peace Prize to Navanethem 'Navi' Pillay, a South African human rights lawyer as an 'indelible stain on the country of Norway'
asserted
Trump → become → Norway
Washington insiders say Trump is 'obsessed' with winning the Peace Prize, which much to his disgust Barack Obama won in the first year of his presidency for his work strengthening international diplomacy and supporting a world free of nuclear weapons.
asserted
Obama → say → weapons
Aides in the Trump administration say senior State Department officials have it in the back of their minds at all times, one saying: 'Trump sees this prize as the ultimate capstone to how history will remember him.'
asserted
history → say → him
Only two other sitting US presidents besides Obama, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, have won the award.
asserted
presidents → sit → award
Last year, Trump did his best to drum up international support, garnering nominations for the annual prize from officials in Pakistan, Cambodia and Israel as well as Republican politicians for the various ways he claims to have ended conflicts.
uncertain
he → do → conflicts
Trump has repeatedly asserted he has settled eight wars and was 'about to settle or win two more' referring to the Iran and Ukraine conflicts.
asserted
he → assert → conflicts
Although the 2025 winner, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, presented her medal to Trump, the Nobel committee predictably decided that the physical exchange of the award didn't mean Trump actually received the honor; the Nobel Peace Prize laureate belonged with the South American.
asserted
laureate → present → American
The latest outburst, and particularly Trump's intention to ban Norwegians from coming to the US, is doubly amusing for Trump's opponents because he has repeatedly called for more immigrants from 'nice' countries – such as Norway.
asserted
he → ban → Norway
In 2018, he reportedly complained at a White House immigration meeting about the US letting in 's***hole countries' such as Haiti, El Salvador and various African nations, and demanded to know why officials weren't accepting more migrants from Norway, whose prime minister he had met the day before.
uncertain
he → complain → minister
Six years later, Trump again bemoaned a lack of immigrants from 'nice' countries at an event in Palm Beach, Florida.
asserted
Trump → bemoan → Beach
'And when I said, you know, "Why can't we allow people to come in from nice countries," I'm trying to be nice,' he told his audience.
asserted
he → say → audience
'Nice countries, you know like Denmark, Switzerland?
asserted
you → know → Denmark
Do we have any people coming in from Denmark?
asserted
we → have → Denmark
Trump's abrupt decision to demote the land of the Vikings, fjords and world-class skiing to 's***hole' status was met with frustration at the government level as Norwegian officials said again that they have no influence over the decision on the Peace Prize.
'He knows very well that the Nobel committee is independent,' Espen Barth Eide, the Norwegian foreign minister, told his country's public broadcaster NRK.
asserted
Eide → demote → Prize
'We have reminded him of that, in case anyone is wondering, and that is still the case.'
asserted
that → remind → case
With a tact that suggested that the Norwegian politician didn't want his country facing the Trump invasion threats that have come Greenland's way, Mr Barth Eide tried to dismiss the US President's churlish and foul-mouthed tirade as mere campaign rhetoric.
uncertain
Eide → suggest → rhetoric
He insisted Norway attached 'great importance' to its strong relationship with America, adding waspishly that Trump 'is currently in the midst of an election campaign that perhaps isn't going very well for his party, and that leads him to say a lot of things.'
asserted
that → insist → things
The 2025 winner - Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado – presented her medal to Trump, but the Nobel committee pointed out that the physical exchange of the award didn't mean Trump actually received the honor
Washington insiders say Trump is 'obsessed' with winning the Peace Prize, which much to his disgust Barack Obama won in the first year of his presidency
'He knows very well that the Nobel committee is independent,' Espen Barth Eide, the Norwegian foreign minister, told his country's public broadcaster NRK
asserted
Eide → present → broadcaster
Meanwhile, Norway's Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Store, was too busy to respond to Trump's toxic language.
asserted
Minister → respond → language
With some irony, given this is supposedly about world peace, he spent Tuesday joining Finnish president Alexander Stubb in a rare 90-minute phone call to Russian leader Vladimir Putin to discuss peace negotiations with Ukraine.
asserted
he → give → Ukraine
The Norwegians are famously a stoic bunch, not prone to emotional outbursts, and many must have felt that punching back at President Trump was beneath their dignity.
asserted
punching → feel → dignity
The country of 5.6 million people hasn't exactly taken to the longboats over the insults – perhaps because they know that calling an affluent, peaceful and beautiful nation like Norway a 's***house' is palpably ludicrous.
asserted
calling → take → Norway
Boosted considerably by oil and natural gas revenue, Norway is among the highest-income countries as measured by GDP per capita.
asserted
Norway → boost → capita
Its sovereign wealth fund posted record profit of 1.75 trillion Norwegian crowns ($184.3 billion) for the first half of 2026
And there are plenty more impressive statistics where that came from, as both Norwegian and American critics of Trump have been brandishing online.
asserted
critics → post → Trump
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
