{"id":72070,"date":"2025-10-10T16:29:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T16:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/72070\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T16:29:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T16:29:08","slug":"trump-snub-shows-nobel-committee-placed-politics-over-peace-says-white-house-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/72070\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump snub shows Nobel committee placed \u2018politics over peace\u2019, says White House \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

In awarding the Peace Prize to Maria Corina Machado<\/a> of Venezuela, the Norwegian Nobel Committee recognised \u201ca woman who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to predict how that will go down with a US president who famously prefers to keep the spotlight on himself.<\/p>\n

To Donald Trump<\/a>, the announcement that the Nobel Peace Prize<\/a> has once again been awarded to someone else risks registering as the latest ignominy in a lifetime of rejection by elites.<\/p>\n

The question is how he might register that indignation.<\/p>\n

An early indication came from White House director of communications Steven Cheung, who posted on X that the committee \u201cproved they place politics over peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Trump has made no secret of his desire to win the Nobel. He\u2019s frequently cited his interventions that he claimed ended seven wars. In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly last month, Trump told attendees that \u201ceveryone says\u201d he should be awarded the prize.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump\u2019s campaign to get the prize has been extraordinary,\u201d committee secretary Kristian Berg Harpviken said on Friday after the announcement was made.<\/p>\n

The Nobel \u2013 globally recognised and synonymous with excellence \u2013 is iconic in a way that Trump, an obsessive arbiter of brand strength, keenly appreciates.<\/p>\n

The obsession took hold when Trump\u2019s original political nemesis, former President Barack Obama<\/a>, won the award in 2009, just months after taking office. Even Obama\u2019s allies conceded it was more a political repudiation of the Bush administration than a deserved honour.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Nobel Peace Prize 2025 has been awarded to Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. Photograph: Ariana Cubillos\/AP <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Mar\u00eda Corina Machado wins this year\u2019s Nobel Peace Prize despite Trump lobbyingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

But for Mr Trump, the recognition revealed a rigged game, where prestige was reserved for those already accepted by a global order that had, despite his best efforts, dismissed him as an outsider.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe won the election and then they gave him the peace prize, right?\u201d Trump told reporters Thursday. \u201cMy election was a much more important election.\u201d<\/p>\n

That frustration has only deepened since his elevation to the presidency.<\/p>\n

In Mr Trump\u2019s first term, he leveraged his close relationships with both Israel and Arab leaders to strike a series of agreements thawing relations across the Middle East. But the world focused more on his record of running roughshod over postwar institutions, and his embrace of conspiracies to contest his electoral loss.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump\u2019s years in the wilderness \u2013 and the multiple criminal prosecutions he endured \u2013 seemed to intensify his hunger for outside recognition. Since returning to office, he has relentlessly pursued peace agreements.<\/p>\n

Some of the wars Mr Trump claimed to end actually concluded hostilities years ago. Others continue to see outbursts of violence. But on some occasions, the US played a constructive mediating role.<\/p>\n

In each case, leaders looking to curry favour with Mr Trump have promoted his cause, symbolically nominating Mr Trump for the award or saying publicly that he deserved it.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, this week\u2019s announcement that the US and partners had brokered a hostage-release deal in the conflict between Israel and Hamas<\/a> was supposed to be the coup de grace, a genuine accomplishment after two years of bloodshed that would push the president\u2019s candidacy over the top.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump\u2019s son, Eric, and the White House\u2019s official accounts posted to social media urging supporters to voice their belief the president should be honoured.<\/p>\n

\"PresidentPresident Donald Trump. Photograph: Kenny Holston\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

Instead, the Nobel committee recognised Machado, the banned Venezuelan opposition leader, \u201cfor her tireless work promoting democratic rights.\u201d It was an astute move given Trump\u2019s current ratcheting up of pressure against Nicolas Maduro\u2019s regime.<\/p>\n

In the hours before the announcement, Mr Trump seemed to sense the award would once again slip out of his grip.<\/p>\n

He insisted to reporters in the Oval Office that his diplomatic efforts were born out of an earnest concern for world peace, and suggested that he didn\u2019t expect to win.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever they do is \u2013 is fine,\u201d Mr Trump said. \u201cI know this, I didn\u2019t do it for that, I did it because I saved a lot of lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The world will still be bracing for how Mr Trump processes losing out.<\/p>\n

An early test will be the president\u2019s planned trip in the coming days to Egypt and Israel to celebrate the peace deal. Without the lustre of a Nobel, the US president may lose interest during the critical first days of implementing the accord.<\/p>\n

Equally, with US forces massed in the Caribbean off Venezuela, there is no Peace Prize that might cause Trump to hold back.<\/p>\n

In Norway, politicians are bracing for the possibility Trump might punish the country through tariffs or targeting the country\u2019s sovereign wealth fund, though the president has never suggested punitive action against Oslo.<\/p>\n

More generally, world leaders will be watching to see if the loss drives Mr Trump away from joint diplomatic efforts. Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine remains a persistent concern, with Trump having previously suggested he might abandon support for Kyiv and let the countries fight it out.<\/p>\n

Speaking to senior military leaders late last month, Trump framed the non-award of the Nobel for his efforts in sweeping terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be a big insult to our country, I\u2019ll tell you that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Chicago resists as Trump attempts to send in national guardOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In awarding the Peace Prize to Maria Corina Machado of Venezuela, the Norwegian Nobel Committee recognised \u201ca woman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[969,42,43,45745,298,40,38,41,39,115],"class_list":["post-72070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-nobel-prize","tag-norway","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}