Machado Accepted It In My Honour: Trump After Missing Out On Nobel Peace Prize
US President Donald Trump on Friday reacted to being overlooked for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize by claiming that the winner, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, had accepted the award “in his honour.” In a classic Trumpian twist, he portrayed the loss as a form of victory, even as his administration slammed the Nobel Committee for its decision.”The person who got the Nobel Prize called me today and said, ‘I’m accepting this in your honour because you deserved it,’ a very nice thing to do,” Trump said, before cheekily adding, “I did not say then, ‘Give it to me,’ though.”
His claim was bolstered by Machado herself, who, after winning the prize, publicly dedicated it to both the people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his “decisive support of our cause!”The White House, however, adopted a more confrontational tone. Spokesperson Steven Cheung accused the Nobel Committee of putting “politics over peace,” stating the decision reflected “bias rather than a genuine commitment to global peace.”
The reaction came after a year of active campaigning by Trump, who repeatedly argued he deserved the prize for resolving what he claims were “eight wars,” including the conflict between Israel and Gaza and tensions between India and Pakistan.
Reiterating his disputed claims, Trump said he had de-escalated the India-Pakistan crisis largely through trade threats. “I said, look, if you’re gonna do this, we’re going to put very big tariffs on your country, and they were both great, they stopped fighting,” he said. India has consistently and strongly dismissed Trump’s claims of having played any mediating role.The Nobel Committee awarded the prize to Machado for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela.” The decision is a personal setback for Trump, who has long coveted the award, and a diplomatic blow for Pakistan, which had formally nominated him as a “champion of peace.”
