Tuesday, 14 October, 2025
President Donald Trump on Friday did not win the Nobel Peace Prize he has long sought, with the award going to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.
Trump this year has forcefully lobbied for the prize, claiming to have solved seven to eight wars over the course of this term — though the reality is more complicated. Seven world leaders endorsed him for the prize, according to the White House.
He punctuated that work this week by finalizing the first phase of a peace deal in Gaza, although it is widely assumed that the winner was selected weeks ago.
The prize has loomed large in Trump’s mind; he has frequently brought it up since he returned to the Oval Office. “They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize,” the president told reporters in February. “It’s too bad. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.”
He rehashed those concerns Thursday, telling reporters: “I don’t know what they’re going to do, but I know nobody in history has solved eight wars in a period of nine months … They’ll have to do what they do. Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that.”
Former NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, among others, have speculated that Trump wouldn’t be eligible for this year’s prize. Despite the recent movement toward a peace deal in Gaza, nominations for this year’s prize were due 11 days after Trump’s inauguration for a second term.
“If the Middle East peace process will be a success, if the 20-point plan will actually be implemented, and we will see a sustainable long-term peace in the region, that’s an important step. And if, through increased pressure on Putin, he can create peace in Ukraine, I think he would be, and should be, a strong candidate,” he told POLITICO.
The award, which comes with around a $1 million prize, is given annually to a person, group or organization “who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses,” according to the Nobel organization.
Four U.S. presidents and one vice president have won the award, including former Presidents Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt; and former Vice President Al Gore. Roosevelt was the last Republican president to nab the award, in 1906.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy,” said Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, during the announcement in Oslo on Friday.
Frydnes described Machado as a “key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided … in a brutal authoritarian state now suffering a humanitarian and economic crisis.”
The committee praised her as “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times,” noting that she has spent the past year in hiding due to political persecution. “Despite serious threats against her life, she has remained in the country, a choice that has inspired millions,” Frydnes added.
A former member of Venezuela’s National Assembly and founder of the opposition movement Vente Venezuela, Machado has long been one of the most prominent and outspoken critics of President Nicolás Maduro’s regime. She has faced years of harassment, disqualification from public office, and repeated arrests of her supporters, yet continued to advocate for free elections, human rights, and the restoration of democratic institutions.
Born in Caracas in 1967, Machado trained as an industrial engineer and later entered politics in the early 2000s, gaining national recognition for her leadership in the Sumate civic movement that organized a 2004 referendum challenging then-president Hugo Chávez’s rule. Her political journey has made her a symbol of civil resistance and a leading voice for Venezuelans seeking democratic reform amid one of the world’s worst economic collapses.
The Nobel Committee’s decision highlights the growing international concern over Venezuela’s political repression and humanitarian crisis, which has forced millions to flee the country in recent years.
The Nobel Peace Prize will be formally presented in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896. It remains the only Nobel Prize awarded in Oslo; the others are announced in Stockholm.
On Thursday, the Nobel Prize in Literature went to László Krasznahorkai, widely regarded as Hungary’s most important living author, known for his haunting portrayals of postmodern dystopia and existential despair.
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President Donald Trump on Friday did not win the Nobel Peace Prize he has long sought, with the award going to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.
Trump this year has forcefully lobbied for the prize, claiming to have solved seven to eight wars over the course of this term — though the reality is more complicated. Seven world leaders endorsed him for the prize, according to the White House.
He punctuated that work this week by finalizing the first phase of a peace deal in Gaza, although it is widely assumed that the winner was selected weeks ago.
The prize has loomed large in Trump’s mind; he has frequently brought it up since he returned to the Oval Office. “They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize,” the president told reporters in February. “It’s too bad. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.”
He rehashed those concerns Thursday, telling reporters: “I don’t know what they’re going to do, but I know nobody in history has solved eight wars in a period of nine months … They’ll have to do what they do. Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that.”
Former NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, among others, have speculated that Trump wouldn’t be eligible for this year’s prize. Despite the recent movement toward a peace deal in Gaza, nominations for this year’s prize were due 11 days after Trump’s inauguration for a second term.
“If the Middle East peace process will be a success, if the 20-point plan will actually be implemented, and we will see a sustainable long-term peace in the region, that’s an important step. And if, through increased pressure on Putin, he can create peace in Ukraine, I think he would be, and should be, a strong candidate,” he told POLITICO.
The award, which comes with around a $1 million prize, is given annually to a person, group or organization “who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses,” according to the Nobel organization.
Four U.S. presidents and one vice president have won the award, including former Presidents Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt; and former Vice President Al Gore. Roosevelt was the last Republican president to nab the award, in 1906.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy,” said Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, during the announcement in Oslo on Friday.
Frydnes described Machado as a “key, unifying figure in a political opposition that was once deeply divided … in a brutal authoritarian state now suffering a humanitarian and economic crisis.”
The committee praised her as “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times,” noting that she has spent the past year in hiding due to political persecution. “Despite serious threats against her life, she has remained in the country, a choice that has inspired millions,” Frydnes added.
A former member of Venezuela’s National Assembly and founder of the opposition movement Vente Venezuela, Machado has long been one of the most prominent and outspoken critics of President Nicolás Maduro’s regime. She has faced years of harassment, disqualification from public office, and repeated arrests of her supporters, yet continued to advocate for free elections, human rights, and the restoration of democratic institutions.
Born in Caracas in 1967, Machado trained as an industrial engineer and later entered politics in the early 2000s, gaining national recognition for her leadership in the Sumate civic movement that organized a 2004 referendum challenging then-president Hugo Chávez’s rule. Her political journey has made her a symbol of civil resistance and a leading voice for Venezuelans seeking democratic reform amid one of the world’s worst economic collapses.
The Nobel Committee’s decision highlights the growing international concern over Venezuela’s political repression and humanitarian crisis, which has forced millions to flee the country in recent years.
The Nobel Peace Prize will be formally presented in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896. It remains the only Nobel Prize awarded in Oslo; the others are announced in Stockholm.
On Thursday, the Nobel Prize in Literature went to László Krasznahorkai, widely regarded as Hungary’s most important living author, known for his haunting portrayals of postmodern dystopia and existential despair.
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