Norwegians 'shaken' as Venezuela opposition leader tries to 'share' Nobel Prize with Trump
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President Donald Trump accepts a peace award from FIFA, the international governing body of soccer, during the World Cup drawing on Dec. 5. (White House)
Norwegians are growing concerned about President Donald Trump’s desperation for the Nobel Peace Prize and Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado’s offer to give it to him.
The people of Norway have awarded a peace prize for more than 120 years to honor those who have done the “best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” Machado has pressed leaders to consider her request to share the award with Trump.
Norway is responding with "scorn," according to a New York Times report.
The award is considered “prestigious and freighted with symbolism.” It is also viewed as the country’s “soft-power tool,” used both to signal optimism and to highlight important work being done around the world.
The Nobel Institute, which administers the prize, has been flummoxed by Machado’s pressure campaign to “share” her peace prize with Trump.
“I single-handedly ENDED 8 WARS, and Norway, a NATO Member, foolishly chose not to give me the Noble (sic) Peace Prize,” he said on social media last week. He misspelled the name of the Nobel Prize.
Norway itself does not decide the prize. A five-member committee selects the winner. Still, Trump's complaints left Norwegians nervous. Requirements for the peace prize include work done in the previous calendar year. Machado won the award for her efforts during 2024. Trump was not in office in 2024, nor was he involved in any international diplomacy.
Machado is headed to the White House on Thursday to offer Trump her Nobel Peace Prize in person. The Nobel Institute, however, has made it clear that regardless of what Machado does with the medal, Trump will never be listed as the 2024 laureate.
“Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to others,” the institute wrote. “The decision is final and stands for all time.”
“But what is new now is that the prize is being used in a political game, a warlike game," the Times said, citing Norwegian columnist Lena Lindgren.
“The Nobel Committee has compromised the prize," said Lindgren, fearful that Trump would use it to justify military intervention in Venezuela. “Norway has been politically embarrassed and has failed to manage the symbolic capital.”