Donald Trump is a loser. In Iowa, at least. But he has a better chance of winning a Nobel Peace Prize than you do.

That's because somebody, maybe as a joke and maybe not, has apparently submitted paperwork nominating the Republican presidential candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Britain's The Independent, quoting Oslo-based Nobel Awards follower Kristian Berg Harpviken, reports "an unidentified U.S. nominator ... proposed Trump for the prestigious prize for 'his vigorous peace through strength ideology, used as a threat weapon of deterrence against radical Islam, Isis, nuclear Iran and Communist China.'"

A Nobel Peace Prize nomination certainly could provide a nice little bump for Trump, who dominated media attention for months thanks to xenophobic rhetoric such as suggesting that all Muslims should be banned from entering the U.S. The real-estate tycoon and reality-TV star led in the final Iowa polls but ended up placing second in Monday's caucuses, behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. He's now fighting to maintain his lead in the New Hampshire polls. The "first-in-the-nation" primary takes place next Tuesday.

This week Trump called Cruz and Cruz's campaign "really, really dishonest. ... These are worse than real-estate people in New York, I'm telling you. No, no, these are truly dishonest people."

Surely Trump will point out before next Tuesday's vote that, as far as we know, the Texas senator has not been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

CBS News reports that, along with Trump, nominees include Pope Francis, the Afghan cycling team and anti-sexual slavery activist Nadia Murad.

Being nominated for the peace prize is an honor, but keep in mind that it's not especially tough to achieve if you're a high-profile person. "[G]etting a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize is not as difficult as you might think -- provided you have the right friends," the newspaper The Telegraph notes.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee accepts nominations from members of national legislatures and other high government officials, international-court judges, humanities professors and, of course, members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Past winners of the prize also can submit nominations. That means Henry Kissinger, the U.S. secretary of state during the Vietnam War, or Apartheid-era South African president F.W. de Klerk could have nominated Trump.

Could Trump actually win? If he does, there can be only one response: Nobel committee, you're fired.

-- Douglas Perry