Venezuelan opposition leader gives big baby Trump her Nobel Peace Prize

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, center, leaves the Capitol on Jan. 15.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado told the press on Thursday that she “presented” President Donald Trump with the Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded in 2025. It was the latest example of the groveling Trump demands—which is usually accompanied by further public humiliation down the line.

“I presented the President of the United States the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize,” Machado told reporters after her meeting with Trump, before launching into a tortured historic analogy involving Simón Bolívar and the Marquis de Lafayette circa 200 years ago.

While Trump is finally in physical possession of the Nobel Peace Prize he has long coveted, this does not mean he has actually earned the honor—a distinction the Nobel Committee has emphasized. The egomaniacal Trump may pretend this doesn’t matter to him, but it most certainly does.

Despite Machado’s display of deference in light of the U.S. military operation that unseated Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, the White House reiterated Trump’s previous assessment: that Machado lacks the “respect” of the Venezuelan people and is not fit to lead the country. 

U.S. officials said his stance had not changed as he headed into the meeting with the increasingly obsequious opposition leader.

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