Trump snubbed by Nobel Committee, praised by winner

By Sarah Roderick-Fitch
The Center Square

After being credited for ending seven wars, President Donald Trump was snubbed for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Trump, who accumulated several high-profile nominations for the award, lost to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who dedicated her award to Trump.

“This recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is a boost to conclude our task: to conquer Freedom. We are on the threshold 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 posted to X on Friday morning. “I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!”

Despite the campaigning and praise from other world leaders for the president’s leadership in ending multiple conflicts around the war in record time, Trump remained pessimistic about his chances of winning the prize – remarking several times that he deserved to win but probably wouldn’t, ascertaining political reasons.

Trump has yet to comment on the snubbing; however, the Director of White House Communications Steven Cheung accused the committee of prioritizing politics.

“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,” Cheung posted on X. “The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace.”

Four U.S. presidents have won the award: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. Roosevelt was the only Republican to win the prize.

Presidential historian and Ronald Reagan biographer Craig Shirley noted on X that Reagan was also snubbed by the Nobel committee, despite ending the decades-long Cold War.

“Ronald Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot and he also got stiffed on the Nobel Peace Prize. Gorbachev won it for having the wisdom to get on his knees and surrendering,” Shirley wrote.

In recent decades, the Nobel Peace Prize selection committee has come under scrutiny for being perceived as political, most notably with Obama’s 2009 win.

The former president won the award after serving only a few months in office. The committee cited his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” and inspiring “hope for a better future” as the reason behind their decision.

Carter, who won the award in 2002, was cited for “his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”

Wilson, also a Democrat, received the award in 1920, being credited as the “leading architect behind the League of Nations” following the First World War.

The only Republican to win the award, Roosevelt, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for his role in ending “the bloody war” between Japan and Russia.

The award, named after Alfred Nobel, was established in 1901. In addition to the Peace Prize, the committee awards prizes in the categories of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine and literature.