The White House has responded to the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 going to someone other than Donald Trump and they sound very unhappy about it.
The prestigious accolade went to María Corina Machado, who was hailed for being ‘one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times’ due to her work to promote democracy for the people of Venezuela.
According to the Nobel Peace Prize committee she won the award in recognition of ‘her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy’, and she sounds like a worthy winner who deserves the honour.
However, one part of the world which doesn’t think so is the White House, as US President Donald Trump had made it abundantly clear that he really wanted to win the shiny gold medal.
Trump has mentioned his desire for a Nobel Peace Prize several times, as well as complained that he’d have one by now if he was Barack Obama, and the White House has responded to him not winning it this year.
While the committee warned that ‘democracy is in retreat’ around the world and said Machado has ‘inspired millions’ by remaining in Venezuela even though her life is in danger White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung took a rather different view of the matter.
Posting his response on social media, he said: “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. The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace.”
Ahead of the prize recipient being announced Trump was campaigning for it to be awarded to him, saying ‘everyone says I should get it’ and making a highly contested claim that he’d ‘ended seven wars’.
The committee noted that campaigns and ‘media tension’ around the Nobel Peace Prize were nothing new, and insisted they based their decision ‘only on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel’.
Several world leaders suggested they might nominate Trump for the accolade, and perhaps one of the reasons he didn’t win is because nominations for this year’s award closed in January – just a few days after he started his second term as US president.
Someone might need to put the toys back in the pram and inform Trump that he can just try again next year.
He previously claimed he’d have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize ‘in 10 seconds’ if he’d been Barack Obama.
The prize is supposed to go to the person or individual who has done the most ‘for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses’.
Four US presidents, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama, have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.