It’s been exactly one year since Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States. His performance notwithstanding, you’d think the honor of holding the office for a second time would be enough to satiate his thirst for recognition, but he really wants a Nobel Peace Prize too. Now, his administration is making attacks on social media calling the Nobel Committee “pretentious nonsense.”
Typically, the Nobel Committee chooses all its winners across disciplines by Dec. 10. So the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize is a long-gone conclusion, regardless of what Maria Corina Machado chooses to do with her physical award. When Machado regifted her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump, mockery came Trump’s way, calling his embrace of the farce embarrassing, not only from his critics but from the Nobel Committee itself.
Nobody truly knows why this award was so important to Trump, but the fact that Barack Obama was able to achieve something he could not has had him making threats that he no longer has to maintain peace in this world. Trump expressed as much when he wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of Norway saying that now, since he was denied the award, he will ensure he annexes Greenland.
The letter that Donald Trump sent to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of Norway is insane!
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) January 19, 2026
This is why you don't elect a narcissist to be your president.
Is this what you voted for, Trump's supporters? pic.twitter.com/m9duEO2asE
The Nobel Committee, however, still maintains that it is independent and free of political interference from the Norwegian government. The committee formally stated that its goal in this entire debacle is “to safeguard the dignity of the Nobel Prizes.” Trump has responded to these claims on numerous television interviews saying “everyone knows” that Norway’s government is actually who chooses the winner. Which, even if true, would be a diminutive difference, but Trump believes that he can bend the arm of any NATO member state to do his bidding, and that the ones that don’t are being defiant because of all that he has done for NATO.
White House deputy secretary Anna Kelly furiously defended Trump on social media, saying, “This is some pretentious nonsense,” adding that his efforts in supposedly stopping eight wars “certainly constitute a benefit to humankind.” Another White House staffer, Steven Cheung, added, “The @NobelPrize has now issued multiple statements/comments on President Trump (who rightfully deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for bringing peace to at least eight wars). Instead of trying to play politics, they should highlight the President’s unprecedented accomplishments.”
This is some pretentious nonsense.
— Anna Kelly (@AnnaKelly47) January 18, 2026
President Trump has saved countless lives by ending eight wars around the world. That certainly constitutes a “benefit to humankind.”
But these elites want to criticize instead of recognize his incredible efforts towards PEACE. Ridiculous. https://t.co/6G1Q2kv6ao
Trump is still beaming from the award that was conceded by Machado. Some people see that as a betrayal of what the award stood for in the first place, and Machado herself has been catching quite a bit of flack on social media, with some seeing it as a form of negotiating tactic that would ensure Trump endorses her should there be a formal transfer of power from the Nicolas Maduro regime into a semblance of democracy in Venezuela.
Trump’s insistence on winning this peace prize was always going to end badly because, if history has served us with anything, it is that Trump is not familiar with a graceful loss. But if the Nobel Peace Prize is as political and biased as Trump’s administration claims it is — then why should it be such a big deal to get it? If they truly believe they stopped wars, is that not a reward itself.
