Nobel Peace Prize goes to María Corina Machado; Donald Trump not selected

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2024 Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, passing over former U.S. President Donald Trump.

The committee said Machado was honored “for promoting democratic rights in her country and her struggle to achieve a transition to democracy.” Trump had sought recognition for his role in normalizing diplomatic relations between several nations, including the agreements known as the Abraham Accords reached during his first term, when Israel and the United Arab Emirates formalized ties; Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan later signed the accords. He hoped to expand the agreement to include countries such as Saudi Arabia.

According to the article, Trump was also nominated for the Peace Prize for various agreements to resolve crises and conflicts this year, but submissions from Cambodia and Pakistan came after the committee’s Jan. 31 deadline. The Nobel Committee does not disclose the names of nominees who were not chosen; before the announcement it said there were 338 candidates, including 244 individuals and 94 organizations.

Reaction to the decision included comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin—“I don’t know whether he’s worthy of it or not,” Reuters reported—and a statement from the White House. “The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung wrote on social media.

Earlier this year, Trump commented on his prospects for the Nobel Peace Prize. In a Feb. 4 Oval Office meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he said, “They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize. It’s too bad. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.” When a reporter asked on Oct. 8 whether he expected to win, Trump responded at a roundtable, “I have no idea.” He also claimed to have resolved “seven wars” during his presidency and said he was working to end the war in Gaza, adding, “Perhaps they’ll find a reason not to give it to me, you know. Perhaps they will.” The next day, Oct. 9, he remarked during an Oval Office meeting that “Obama got a prize for doing nothing.”

Four former U.S. presidents—Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama—have previously received the Nobel Peace Prize. New York Rep. Claudia Tenney publicly disclosed that she nominated Trump for the prize for the Abraham Accords, and Netanyahu said during a White House visit in July that he would nominate Trump for his role in the accords.