Trump Loses Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan Politician María Corina Machado After Repeatedly Saying He Wants the Award

Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said Machado meets “all the criteria” laid out by Alfred Nobel for the prize, adding that she has “brought the country’s opposition together, being steadfast in her support for a peaceful transition to democracy.”

Frydnes was then asked about 79-year-old Trump’s campaign for the prize.

He said that “in the long history of the Nobel Peace” the committee has “seen any type of campaign, media attention.” “We receive thousands and thousands letters every year of people wanting to say what for them leads to peace,” Frydnes continued. “This committee sits in a room filled 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 the will of Alfred Nobel.”

In a video posted to X by Edmundo González — who replaced Machado when she was barred from running in last year’s presidential elections in Venezuela — Machado could be heard saying she was “in shock” at the news during a phone call.

“What is this? I can’t believe it,” Machado, who lives in hiding, said, per a translation by the BBC.

Trump’s campaign for the Nobel has been going on for at least a year. However, since taking office for his second term in January, he’s adopted the mantra that he deserves the prize for negotiating solutions to “seven unendable wars.”