Saturday, March 29, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump has reacted strongly to losing the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. Speaking at a press briefing on Saturday, Trump asserted that the prize winner herself acknowledged his role in her achievement.
“The Nobel Prize winner called me today and said, ‘I’m accepting this in your honor because you truly deserve it,’” Trump told reporters. “I didn’t ask her to do that, but she seemed to want it that way. I’m happy, because I saved millions of lives.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced Machado as the recipient of this year’s Peace Prize, honoring her tireless efforts to defend democratic rights and secure a peaceful transition from authoritarian rule in Venezuela. The committee praised her for championing justice, women’s rights, and political freedom through non-violent activism, which has made her a global symbol of democratic courage.
For Trump, however, the decision was viewed as a personal setback. Over the past year, he has openly campaigned for the prize, repeatedly calling himself the “President of Peace” and claiming he deserved to win it four or five times. “Everyone says I should have it,” Trump insisted. Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in September, he boasted of an “unmatched record of peace,” claiming to have “ended six or seven wars,” including conflicts he cited between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, and Thailand and Cambodia.
Adding to the controversy, Pakistan had formally nominated Trump for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, describing him as a “champion of peace.” With Machado’s victory, analysts suggest that Islamabad also faces a diplomatic embarrassment, given its strong lobbying effort on Trump’s behalf.
María Corina Machado, a long-standing critic of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, has been a central figure in the country’s pro-democracy movement. Her activism has drawn international support, and her insistence on peaceful dialogue has become a model for resistance movements worldwide.
Trump’s remarks underline his continued frustration with the Nobel Committee, but Machado’s recognition highlights a contrasting narrative: the global acknowledgment of grassroots democratic struggle over political self-promotion.
