Donald Trump’s long quest for diplomacy’s top honor, the Nobel Peace Prize, ended the same way it often does for him: with a complaint and a boast.
Even before stepping back into the White House this year, Trump had been on a not-so-subtle mission to secure what he called “diplomacy’s biggest medal.” On Thursday, during an Oval Office meeting with the President of Finland, he made one last plea: “I know this: that nobody in history has solved eight wars in nine months. And I’ve stopped eight wars.” It was classic Trump, bold, exaggerated, and entirely off the mark.
Venezuelan Opposition Leader Snags Nobel
By Friday morning, he woke up to the news he probably expected but would never admit, the Nobel Committee had picked someone else. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado took home the prize “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
The irony wasn’t lost on anyone. Trump had framed himself as a bringer of peace, even as his record told a different story. The Nobel, after all, is awarded for promoting peace, disarmament, and cooperation, not for isolationism, domestic strife, and Twitter wars. But in Trump’s world, facts are negotiable.
A Years-Long Obsession
His obsession with the prize stretches back years. In 2018, he told his Cabinet he should already have it. That was also the year it emerged that two nominations in his name were forged. Since then, the pattern has repeated at golf clubs, press briefings, rallies. Over and over, he’s claimed he “should’ve won four or five times already.” This summer, he even told military leaders that denying him the award would be “a big insult to our country.”
Still, he seemed to know how it would go. “They won’t give me a Nobel Peace Prize because they only give it to liberals,” he said back in June. Then last month, he doubled down: “Will you get the Nobel Prize? Absolutely not.” And even a day before the announcement, Trump pretended to shrug it off, saying, “Whatever they do is fine. I didn’t do it for that. I did it because I saved a lot of lives.”
The Obama Factor
Beneath the bravado, Trump’s pursuit of the Nobel has always carried a personal edge. His fixation dates back to Barack Obama’s 2009 win, a sore spot he’s never quite gotten over. The idea that his predecessor could win the prize early on while he, the self-proclaimed peacemaker, could not, has clearly eaten at him.
This year, Trump had extra hope. With global chatter about a potential Israel-Hamas peace breakthrough, he seemed convinced it was finally his moment, that he could join figures like Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela on the world stage. But the nomination deadline had passed way back on January 31, just days into his second term. Most of his supposed “achievements,” and most of the nominations he bragged about, came long after that.
Flattery and Frustration
Some of those nominations, by the way, came from leaders seemingly looking to curry favor. But none of it mattered to the Norwegian Nobel Committee. No amount of flattery, pressure, or spectacle could sway them.
If Trump’s disappointment feels familiar, that’s because it is. His Nobel obsession mirrors his old feud with the Emmys, where he famously lost year after year for The Apprentice. It’s become part of his pattern, the self-awarded golf championships, the fake TIME covers, the endless boasts about accomplishments no one else seems to see.