Speaking out over the Nobel Peace Prize, Donald Trump asserted that the recipient informed him he “really deserved it.”
The honor has been granted to four former US presidents: Woodrow Wilson in 1919, Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, Jimmy Carter in 2002, and Barack Obama in 2009; Trump has made no secret of his ambition to get it.But this year, María Corina Machado, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition and a key player in the country’s fight for democracy, received the medal instead of Trump.Most people agree that the 58-year-old defeated Nicolás Maduro in the 2024 Venezuelan election, but Maduro rejected the outcome and began a political crackdown.
Now, Trump has spoken out about the result of the prize.
He said: “The person who actually got the Nobel Prize called today, called me, and said ‘I’m accepting this in honor of you, because you really deserved it.’ A really nice thing to do.“I didn’t say, ‘Then give it to me’, though.’”
In an apparent attempt to explain the committee’s decision, he then said: “It was given after ’24 and I was running for office in ’24.”He added: “There are those who say that we did so much that they should have done it.”
Trump then went on to seemingly reference the recent peace deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza which he was instrumental in negotiating.
“I’m happy because I saved millions of lives,” he said.
With his claims of having halted seven conflicts and his frequent mention of the Nobel Peace Prize in his speeches, Trump has made it clear that he wants to get the award.The White House previously said in a statement that the “Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace” in response to this year’s award.
Nobel chairman Jørgen Watne Frydnes praised Machado, saying that she received the prize for “her endeavor to attain a fair and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
A “key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided… in a brutal authoritarian state that is now suffering a humanitarian and economic crisis,” he continued, referring to her.
“We are on the verge of victory and today, more than ever, we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic nations of the world as our principal allies to achieve freedom and democracy,” Machado said in response to the Nobel committee’s announcement.
“I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!”
