ALBAWABA - President Donald Trump of the United States said that María Corina Machado, the leader of the opposition in Venezuela and this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, called him personally to say that she accepted the award as a thank-you for his work to promote peace and freedom.
Trump said on Friday night: "She was very nice when she called me." She said she accepted the award in my name to honor all the work we've done to bring peace and end wars.
The call came after the Nobel Peace Prize Committee gave the 2025 prize to Machado, which caused a new fight between the White House and the committee. Washington was upset with the decision because it said the panel was "politicizing peace" and not paying attention to Trump's recent diplomatic efforts, such as his role in brokering the Gaza ceasefire deal.
Earlier on Friday, the White House put out a strong statement criticizing the committee's choice. Steven Cheung, the spokesperson, wrote on X (formerly Twitter):
"President Trump will keep making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives." He has a heart that wants to do good, and no one else can move mountains with their willpower like he can.
Cheung said that giving the prize to a Venezuelan opposition figure instead of Trump, "who is leading global peace efforts," shows that the Nobel Committee has lost its moral compass and is now more concerned with politics than with doing the right thing.
People praised Machado for her fight against authoritarianism.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee gave Machado the Peace Prize in honor of "brave defenders of freedom who rise up against authoritarian regimes."
Machado has been against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for a long time. She has been arrested, threatened, and banned from running for office, making her a symbol of democratic resistance in Venezuela.
But Trump's supporters say he should have won the award because of his peace initiative in Gaza and claims that his administration "ended eight wars" and "restored stability to the Middle East."
"The Real Peacemaker"
Even though Trump didn't directly criticize the Nobel Committee, he did post videos on Truth Social of supporters celebrating the ceasefire in Gaza, with captions that emphasized "his role in achieving peace in the Middle East."
Trump has called himself "the true peacemaker" many times in speeches, saying that he deserves the Nobel Prize more than any other leader.
"Will I ever get it?" He told U.S. military officers last month that it was "probably not." "Someone who did nothing will get it."
When the Nobel Decision Was Made
Each year, the deadline for nominations for the Nobel Prize is January 31. This means that any major peace efforts that happen after that date will be considered for the next year's prize.
On January 20, just ten days before the deadline, Trump returned to the White House for his second term. Some of his supporters think that the committee chose not to include him for political reasons.
