President Donald Trump was again denied the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, despite massive lobbying from Republican allies, foreign leaders, and his own public campaign to secure the honor.
The 2025 Peace Prize went instead to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who the Norwegian Nobel Committee recognized “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.”
Machado dedicated her award to Trump and the people of Venezuela, thanking the former president for his backing of her cause. The White House reacted unhappily, with communications director Steven Cheung accusing the Nobel panel of favoring politics over peace by excluding Trump. “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,” Cheung wrote online.
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Trump reposted Machado’s remarks praising him, but did not comment directly on her recognition. Her political stance against Nicolás Maduro reflects the Trump administration’s position on Venezuela, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio once described her as “the personification of resilience, tenacity, and patriotism.”
Trump has made no secret of his desire for the prestigious award. “They’ll have to do what they do. Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that. I did it because I saved a lot of lives,” he said Thursday.
Although several nominations were submitted on his behalf, many missed the February 1 deadline for the 2025 prize. Among them was a nomination by Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney for Trump’s role in brokering the Abraham Accords between Israel and several Arab states in 2020.
Nobel Committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes stated that lobbying campaigns have been common throughout the prize’s history. “We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say what for them leads to peace,” he said. “We base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.”
The Peace Prize, created in 1901, honors efforts to advance global fraternity and reduce conflict. Only three sitting U.S. presidents have ever received it: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Barack Obama. Jimmy Carter and Al Gore later joined the list as private citizens.
Trump has long argued that he deserves the prize more than Obama. “They gave it to Obama for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country,” he said.
Despite his claims of ending “seven wars,” analysts note that several of those conflicts were unresolved tensions rather than wars formally concluded under his administration. His much-touted Gaza ceasefire deal remains fragile, and little progress has been made on ending the Russia-Ukraine war, which Trump once said he could resolve “in one day.”
At home, Trump’s presidency has been marked by polarization. He has launched an expansive deportation campaign, ordered military deployments to cities over local objections, and directed the Justice Department toward political opponents. His administration also withdrew from the Paris climate accord and sparked trade disputes through fluctuating tariffs.
Critics argue that many of Trump’s nominations are publicity maneuvers. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who nominated Trump earlier this year, reposted the White House statement saying, “The Nobel Committee talks about peace. President @realDonaldTrump makes it happen.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin also weighed in, praising Trump’s Gaza ceasefire deal while questioning the committee’s past selections. “It’s not up to me to judge whether Trump should have received the prize,” he said, “but the Nobel Committee has in the past awarded the prize to those who have done little to advance global peace.”
Trump later thanked Putin online, writing, “Thank you to President Putin!”
Other nominations came from Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet and Pakistan’s government, both citing Trump’s alleged role in helping end regional conflicts. Ironically, Marco Rubio, one of Trump’s closest foreign policy allies, joined other U.S. officials in nominating Machado for this year’s award, according to a nominating letter released Friday.
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