President Donald Trump was given yet another award on Wednesday ― and once again, it was an honor never bestowed before and perhaps never to be issued again.
The Washington Coal Club awarded the president a trophy declaring him the “Undisputed Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal” at a White House ceremony.
Trump has been working to make it easier to increase coal production since his first administration, often using the phrase “clean coal” to describe it, although critics say the very concept is a fiction.
The president on Wednesday announced funding for coal plants in five states and ordered the Defense Department to buy power from coal plants, according to CNBC.
There, he was also given the new statuette honoring his efforts on behalf of the industry:
The “Undisputed Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal” award was given to President Donald Trump during a “Champion of Coal” event in the East Room of the White House on Wednesday.
Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has racked up awards, medals and honors of varying levels of distinction.
He’s set to receive two from Israel: the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor and the Israel Prize. In addition, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Trump that he nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is an award the president has publicly obsessed over and openly sulked about not receiving.
He did eventually get one, although it was a secondhand honor: Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who won last year, gave Trump her medal when she visited the White House last month.
Trump was given the first ― and only ― FIFA Peace Prize by the governing body for soccer last year, an award that seemed to have been created just for the president.
Trump was given another unusual award just before winning the 2024 presidential election: Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.), who owns several McDonald’s franchises, awarded him the “McDonald’s French Fry Certification Pin.”
Edwards: I also own McDonald’s restaurants and I know that you perfected your skills behind the counter a day or so ago and it was my honor to present president trump with the french fry certification pin pic.twitter.com/s7Up4ghaIG
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 21, 2024
He’s been given an assortment of other gifts, too, including a Rolex desk clock and a $130,000 gold bar from a Swiss delegation hoping to get him to reduce tariffs.
It worked, although the move is now facing an ethics investigation in Switzerland.
Trump has also been given, often with great ceremony, an assortment of trinkets from CEOs such as Apple’s Tim Cook, who gave the president a piece of “unique” glass on a gold base.
Given that background, social media users mocked the president for yet another in a long line of participation trophies:
I don’t know this for a fact, but I think this is the first time in history that the current FIFA Peace Prize winner became the Undisputed Champion of Coal. https://t.co/KPUIvrCQZW
— Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) February 11, 2026
If I ever want to get Donald Trump’s attention, I will go to a trophy store.
For a conventionally VERY successful man, Trump has a tremendous need for physical accolades, attention, and constant re-assurance.
It’s incredible. https://t.co/aMYYYqMkj6
— Tripp Whitbeck (@trippwhitbeck) February 11, 2026
Are they just making up awards now?
Today, President Trump received the first-ever “Undisputed Champion of Coal” award. Why? For sacrificing reliable and affordable clean energy to prop up a dying industry. pic.twitter.com/kDD1zzfJvc
— EDF Action (@EDFaction) February 11, 2026
It’s amazing that this doesn’t embarass him.
People feel like they now need to give him some kind of worthless trophy to win his favor.
Shambles. https://t.co/zBdYeKlPbq
— Gissur Simonarson (@GissiSim) February 11, 2026
Are they mocking the President? 🤔
— 𝑺𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝑴𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒊 Ⓜ (@SandileKaMsibi) February 11, 2026
Trump loves his participation trophies.
— Vince Wilson (@VinceWilsonShow) February 11, 2026
Holy shit, this is so embarrassing! I’d say this is some late-Brezhnev era Soviet shit, but even then it wasn’t so bad.
Unbelievable. https://t.co/KhKJ3SPoUz
— Slava Malamud (@SlavaMalamud) February 11, 2026
Clean coal is an oxymoron. But the funny thing is I believe his inner circle cronies are just finding ways to give him awards, which his ego needs as validators. It’s very sad to see. But I cannot feel pity or compassion for him. He’s evil.
— Janie Harrington 🌸 🌿 (@GirlsandGoblins) February 11, 2026
Maybe Canada should create a trophie for the “protector of the Gordie Howe Bridge” to make the toddler happy.
— Larry Rodrigue (@larry_rodrigue1) February 12, 2026
Collecting fake awards like infinity stones
— Ōzeki GOAT (@GOATofGOATS_MMA) February 11, 2026
He accepted that crappy trophy like it’s a major award, and probably wrecked expensive window coverings displaying it in his window. pic.twitter.com/duVmDptylM
— Anna Baxter 🇺🇸✌🏻 (@MsAnnaBaxter) February 11, 2026