Former President Donald Trump has missed out on the Nobel Peace Prize after the Norwegian committee awarded the honor to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.
Trump had long sought the prize and believed his role in brokering the recent Israel–Hamas ceasefire might have finally secured it for him. Supporters within his MAGA movement, led by his son Eric Trump, publicly called for him to be recognized for his efforts in Gaza, with some even suggesting the award be renamed after him instead of its founder, Alfred Nobel.
When asked about his chances earlier this week, Trump was noticeably restrained. “I have no idea,” he told a White House reporter. “Look, I did settle — Marco [Rubio] will tell you — we settled seven wars. We’re close to settling an eighth, and I think we’ll end up settling the Russia situation, which is horrible. I don’t think anyone in history has settled that many, but perhaps they’ll find a reason not to give it to me.”
Asle Toje, deputy leader of the Nobel Committee, had earlier suggested that Trump’s outspoken campaigning for the award might have harmed his chances. “These types of influence campaigns have a more negative effect than a positive one,” Toje said. “We talk about it on the committee. Some candidates push for it really hard, and we do not like it.”
Had Trump been chosen, he would have become the fifth U.S. president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, following Theodore Roosevelt (1906), Woodrow Wilson (1919), Jimmy Carter (2002), and Barack Obama (2009). Obama received the honor in his first year in office for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
Trump has long been reported to envy Obama’s popularity, with many noting that the former president’s mockery of him at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner still lingers. Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Over the years, Trump’s political rivalries have shifted — from Hillary Clinton to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris — but his comparisons with Obama have remained constant, especially regarding the Nobel Prize.
In a March interview with The New York Times, former National Security Adviser John Bolton said Trump once remarked, “If Obama got it for not doing anything, why shouldn’t I?” Trump has expressed similar sentiments in speeches and rallies.
When former Representative Tulsi Gabbard announced an investigation into Obama-era intelligence officials in July, Trump shared an AI-generated video depicting his predecessor in prison — a moment critics described as a projection of Trump’s long-standing resentment.
Writing for MSNBC, former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele argued that the episode reflected Trump’s insecurities: “Obama’s grace, intellect, global stature, and the fact that his presence in the White House redefined what power could look like in America continue to haunt Trump.”
Steele added, “It’s clear Obama has lived in Trump’s mind rent-free for two decades. Some believe Trump first ran for president because of that 2011 dinner. He’s even confused Biden with Obama multiple times on the campaign trail and claimed he beat Obama in 2016. Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize; Trump spends years trying to win it himself. Obama passes a historic healthcare law; Trump makes it his mission to overturn it.”
