The leader of an anti-nuclear group called U.S. President Donald Trump a “moron” just days before she stepped forward to accept the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.
The executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), Beatrice Fihn, made her opinion public on Twitter.
Immediately after accepting her prize in Oslo on Friday, Fihn tried to distance herself from her own words when she told a news conference that she was trying to make a joke, “which I kind of regret now.” Her attempt at humor was reportedly based on a story – since disproven – that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had said the same of Trump.
But, Fihn added, “I think that the election of President Donald Trump has made a lot of people very uncomfortable with the fact that he alone can authorize the use of nuclear weapons.”
Nobel committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen announced this year’s winner, saying “through its inspiring and innovative support for the U.N. negotiations on a treaty banning nuclear weapons, ICAN has played a major part in bringing about what in our day and age is equivalent to an international peace congress.”
Reiss-Andersen was asked by journalists whether the $1.1-million prize was a token gesture, given that no international measures against nuclear weapons have ever been reached. According to AP, she replied that “what will not have an impact is being passive.”
The Geneva-based ICAN has campaigned for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons adopted by the United Nations in July, but which needs ratification from 50 countries. So far only three countries have signed up.
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