Trump suffers fresh Nobel humiliation just 48 hours after Oval Office pitch

U.S. President Donald Trump listens to remarks during a swearing-in ceremony for Mehmet Oz in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 18, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

President Donald Trump did not win the Nobel Peace Prize, just 48 hours after he said no one in the award's history deserves it more than he does.

The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize went to South African human rights lawyer Navanethem "Navi" Pillay, who is 85, on Friday for her work in the field of international justice and human rights, according to The Washington Post.

This was another blow for Trump, since Pillay seemed to make a joke about the president's long-standing effort to win the award as she was celebrating her own victory.

"If you clap a little bit more I may share this prize with Trump," Pillay joked in a clip from the event as her colleagues cheered and clapped for her.

The announcement comes just about 48 hours after Trump made another pitch as to why he is deserving of the award.

"I settled eight wars," Trump insisted, while claiming that Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, last year's winner, had told him nobody in Nobel history deserved the award more.

"I'm not bragging; I'm just telling you the facts," Trump said at the time.

He also claimed that the Nobel Committee had shown bias towards him and warned that failing to take into account his diplomatic achievements would bring the organization into disrepute.

Despite his claims, many of the conflicts he claimed to settle are still going on, such as the Israel-Gaza war and fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In addition, Trump is still embroiled in the war in Iran that has gone on months longer than he claimed he would finish the job.

Pillay’s legal career has spanned the apartheid years in South Africa, proceedings at international war crimes tribunals and work with the United Nations.

Before she became U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, she had a role in setting important legal precedents relating to genocide and sexual violence in the context of armed conflict.

Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, expressed his praise for Pillay's contributions and at the same time stressed the importance of international accountability.

"Peace requires justice," Frydnes declared during Friday's announcement.

This is the second time President Trump has been passed over, after an odd incident in January when Machado presented him with her Nobel medal at the White House after receiving the prize in 2025.

The Nobel Committee later made it clear that it may not award the prize to anyone else, no matter who holds the physical medal.

This year the committee looked at 287 nominations before it chose Pillay. The award, which includes a prize sum of about $1.2 million, will be officially presented to her at a ceremony in Oslo on December 10.

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