US President Donald Trump was handed a Nobel Peace Prize medal by Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado during a White House meeting on Thursday, January 15, in a move that immediately raised eyebrows.
Machado, who was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, claimed the gesture was meant to recognize Trump’s so-called “unique commitment” to Venezuela’s freedom, a claim many critics find deeply questionable. However, Trump rushed to celebrate the moment, boasting on Truth Social that he had “accepted” the Nobel from her, even though the Nobel Committee had already clarified that the prize cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred.
In his post, Trump framed the episode as a grand honor and a sign of “mutual respect,” conveniently ignoring the committee’s clear rules and the ethical awkwardness of accepting someone else’s award. Consequently, the episode appeared less like statesmanship and more like political theater designed to inflate Trump’s self-image.
Meanwhile, Machado travelled to Washington to meet Trump and members of Congress, apparently hoping to regain his backing after he sidelined her following Maduro’s capture and allowed Delcy Rodríguez to continue as interim president. Instead, the White House doubled down on its position, signaling that Trump’s priorities lay elsewhere.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that keeping Rodríguez in place was based on Trump’s reading of the “realities on the ground,” not on Machado’s appeals. She stressed that the meeting had not changed Trump’s view, underscoring how little leverage Machado actually had.
According to The Guardian, the dramatic handover of the Nobel medal looked like an obvious attempt to win back Trump’s support, highlighting a troubling blend of desperation and vanity. Fox News also reported that Machado insisted on giving Trump the medal, after which he readily accepted it, showing little regard for established norms.
When Machado later suggested she merely wanted to “share” the prize, Nobel organizers swiftly intervened to shut down the narrative. They reiterated that the Nobel Peace Prize is final, cannot be shared or transferred, and lasts “for all time.”
Finally, the committee bluntly clarified on X that while a physical medal may change hands, the status of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot—an implicit rebuke that left Trump clinging to symbolism rather than substance, and exposed the episode as more ego-driven spectacle than genuine peace advocacy.
