PRESIDENT Donald Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his “remarkable” Middle East plan, said this year’s winner María Corina Machado.
Machado also dedicated her award to the US president and said he should be honoured with the Peace Prize next year.
Venezuelan politician María Corina Machado was given the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize
Trump was snubbed and denied the Nobel Prize he so wanted
Machado – a Venezuelan politician and activist – was awarded the prize for her “tireless work” organising the democratic opposition to dictatorship in Venezuela.
The Nobel Committee paid tribute to Machado’s “struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy”.
The decision to snub Trump from the Nobel Prize came the day after Israel and Hamas signed a peace deal that he engineered to end the war and return the hostages.
It is indeed a massive breakthrough that is set to reshape the face of the Middle East – and the world is praising the US leaders’ effort to broker the deal.
But even after a slew of endorsements from world leaders and months of campaigning, he was denied the prestigious award.
Machado praised Trump’s “remarkable” efforts to bring peace in the region riddled with conflicts and said Trump “certainly deserves” to be awarded the prize.
She said: “I do want to say that I believe he does deserve to be recognised.
“In only nine months, so many conflicts have been solved or prevented, especially the conflict in the Middle East.
“I believe that the fact that there’s a solution in days to come, that the whole world has supported … I mean, this is remarkable.
“All parts involved, all countries around the world are supporting this solution. I think this is remarkable.”
Dedicating her Nobel Prize award to Trump, the Machado wrote on X: “I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!”
Her post comes amidst heightened tensions between the two countries after Trump cut all diplomatic contacts with Venezuela during the US’s crackdown on drug cartels.
Announcing the winner, Jørgen Watne Frydnes lauded Machado as “a woman who keeps the flame of democracy burning amidst a growing darkness”.
He later explained why the US president was not given the award.
Maria Corina Machado speaks to supporters in Caracas, Venezuela
He said: “I think this committee has seen [every] type of campaign [and] media attention. We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people saying what, for them, leads to peace.”
“But this committee sits in a room with the portraits of all laureates and that room is filled with both courage and integrity. So, we base only our decision on the work and will of Alfred Nobel.”
But the White House lashed out at the Nobel Prize committee for not honouring Trump with the peace award, saying it places “politics over peace”.
“The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace,” White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung said on X.
“President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will.”
Not this time, Don
Trump, who is in his second term as America’s president, has long wished for a Nobel Peace Prize.
He claims to have stopped seven conflicts in the world since his time in the office – and has made no secret of the fact that he believes he is worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Last week, he teased the possibility of ending an eighth war if Israel and Hamas agree to his peace plan aimed at concluding the nearly two-year war in Gaza.
And just hours before the Nobel Peace Prize results were set to be announced, Don revealed to the world that the two warring factions had signed a peace deal – one that he engineered.
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip celebrate after the announcement
ReutersPalestinians celebrate on a street following the news that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of the peace deal[/caption]
However, the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the prestigious peace prize, held its final meeting on Monday, the Nobel Institute said.
This means that the decision to give the award to Machado was made before the conclusion of an agreement between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday night.
Historian Asle Sveen, a specialist in the Nobel Prize, said he was “one hundred per cent certain” that Trump will not win this year’s Nobel Prize.
He emphasised that the US president had long “given free rein” to Netanyahu to bomb Gaza and had provided significant military aid to Israel – something that the prize committee must have taken into account.
A global ‘peacemaker’
All eyes were on his nomination this year after the self-proclaimed peacemaker launched a campaign in a bid to win the award.
He has repeatedly asserted since his return to the White House in January that he deserves the nod, adding it would be “a big insult” to the United States if he were not given the prize.
In February this year, during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, he said: “They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.”
Even during his speech at the 80th UN General Assembly in New York, Trump said that “everyone” says he should get it.
He said: “Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize for each one of these achievements, but for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up with their mothers and fathers, because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless and unglorious wars.
“What I care about is not winning prizes as much as saving lives.”
Numerous world leaders endorsed him for the honour, including Netanyahu, who posted an AI-generated image of him awarding Trump the Nobel Prize.
XBenjamin Netanyahu’s office posted an AI-generated picture of Bibi awarding Trump the Nobel Prize[/caption]
Hun Manet, the prime minister of Cambodia, nominated Trump after a deal was struck for a ceasefire following the clashes at the Cambodia-Thailand border.
Olivier Nduhungirehe, the Rwandan foreign minister, credited Trump for how he helped end the 30-year conflict between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Pakistan also endorsed Trump for the prize this year. Though the Islamic Republic slammed him for bombing Iran in less than 24 hours.
Even Vladimir Putin backed Trump to win.
Putin said Russia supported Trump’s nomination as long as Washington did not supply long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.
Experts say the Nobel Prize committee may take Trump’s efforts to bring peace in Gaza – if it lasts – into consideration for next year’s award.
How is the Nobel Peace Prize winner decided?
By Patrick Harrington, Foreign News reporter
THE winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is chosen through a highly secretive deliberation process.
Every year since 1901, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has met to discuss who is worthy of taking home the prize.
Nominations close in January, and the Committee comes together throughout the next eight months to confer.
Its five members meet along with a secretary in the Committee Room of Oslo’s Nobel Institute.
They read aloud the criteria set out by Alfred Nobel in his will.
It says the prize should be awarded to the person who has done the most for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, or for holding or promoting peace congresses.
Then, they enter intense discussions in order to thrash out the decision.
Committee chairman Jorgen Watne Frydnes told the BBC: “We discuss, we argue, there is a high temperature.
“But also, of course, we are civilised, and we try to make a consensus-based decision every year.”
If there is no consensus over who should win, then it goes comes down to a simple majority vote.