Political leaders in Norway have condemned the Venezuelan opposition leader Mar\u00eda Corina Machado\u2019s \u201cabsurd\u201d decision to present her Nobel peace prize medal to Donald Trump, accusing the US president of being a \u201cclassic showoff\u201d who takes credit for other people\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
The Nobel laureate gave her medal to Trump<\/a> at the White House on Thursday \u201cin recognition [of] his unique commitment [to\u2019] our freedom\u201d. Several hours later, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Machado \u201cpresented me with her Nobel peace prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.\u201d<\/p>\n The Nobel Peace Center said on social media that \u201ca medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel peace prize laureate cannot\u201d. The organisers of the prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee and the Norwegian Nobel Institute, had already said that the prize<\/a> \u201ccannot be revoked, shared or transferred\u201d when Machado first revealed her plan.<\/p>\n When Machado was awarded the prize in Oslo last month<\/a> after making a dramatic, secret journey from Venezuela, the Nobel committee celebrated her long struggle for democracy against Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s \u201cbrutal, authoritarian state\u201d. Since then, Trump has invaded Venezuela and removed Maduro, handing power over to Venezuela\u2019s vice-president, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez.<\/p>\n Kirsti Bergst\u00f8, the leader of Norway\u2019s Socialist Left party and its foreign policy spokesperson, said: \u201cThis is, above all, absurd. The peace prize cannot be given away.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s recent threats to invade Greenland, she said, demonstrated why he was not a worthy recipient. \u201cTrump will no doubt claim that he has now received it, but it cannot be transferred, and Trump\u2019s repeated threats toward Greenland clearly demonstrate why it would have been madness to award him the prize,\u201d Bergst\u00f8 said.<\/p>\n Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, the leader of the Centre party, said: \u201cWhoever has received the prize has received the prize. The fact that Trump accepted the medal says something about him as a type of person: a classic showoff who wants to adorn himself with other people\u2019s honours and work.\u201d<\/p>\n Raymond Johansen, the Labour former governing mayor of Oslo who is now secretary general of Norwegian People\u2019s Aid, said the situation was \u201cunbelievably embarrassing and damaging\u201d.<\/p>\n He said Machado\u2019s actions could damage the reputation of the Nobel peace prize<\/a> and the Nobel committee.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is unbelievably embarrassing and damaging to one of the world\u2019s most recognised and important prizes. The awarding of the prize is now so politicised and potentially dangerous that it could easily legitimise an anti-peace prize development,\u201d he wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t believe she actually gave the prize to Trump. What on earth is the Nobel committee going to say?\u201d<\/p>\n The Norwegian foreign ministry declined to comment, saying the prize was independent of the Norwegian government and referred instead to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n A photograph shared by the White House showed the US president with the gift displayed in a large gold frame alongside a text that read: \u201cPresented as a personal symbol of gratitude on behalf of the Venezuelan people in recognition of President Trump\u2019s principled and decisive action to secure a free Venezuela<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Political leaders in Norway have condemned the Venezuelan opposition leader Mar\u00eda Corina Machado\u2019s \u201cabsurd\u201d decision to present her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-417097","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}