President Trump took to Truth Social late Friday to argue that he, not this year's Nobel Peace Prize laureate Navi Pillay, should have received the honor. In a post following a rally in Syracuse, N.Y., Trump claimed credit for settling multiple conflicts and suggested the award has lost all credibility.
"The United States of America, represented by me, as your President, should have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but didn't," Trump wrote. He added that the decision leaves "an indelible stain on Norway" and that the prize has been "forever discredited by a handful of Radical Ideologues who are Anti-Democracy, and Enemies of Civilization!"
Trump's latest complaint comes after Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, last year's recipient, gave her medal to Trump. However, the Norwegian Nobel Committee made clear at the time that the honor cannot be transferred, stating that "the medal and the diploma are the physical symbols" but the prize itself "remains inseparably linked to the person or organisation designated as the laureate."
Pillay, a former International Criminal Court judge and UN high commissioner for human rights, was recognized for her work on human rights. She recently chaired a UN commission that accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, a finding Israel strongly rejects. Trump seized on that report, questioning Pillay's qualifications and asserting she "very obviously, hates Israel."
"The Nobel Prize was given today to a liberal person who works at the United Nations, who nobody has ever heard of," Trump wrote. "In all of the Wars that I have settled, I never spoke to the United Nations—they were of no help." Trump repeated his disputed claim that he has "settled eight Wars" and said he is "about to settle, or win, two more" involving Iran and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
In a video that circulated online, Pillay joked that she "may share this prize with Trump," a comment that drew attention given Trump's long-coveted interest in the award. The president has previously expressed frustration over not receiving the Nobel, and his Friday remarks are among his most forceful attacks on the selection process.
The Nobel committee's decision to honor Pillay has drawn sharp criticism from Israel, with officials calling it a "grotesque weaponization" of the prize. That reaction echoes Trump's own dismissal of the award's integrity. The controversy highlights the growing political divide over the Nobel Peace Prize, which has often been a lightning rod for debate.
Trump's claim that he has settled multiple wars is widely disputed by foreign policy experts, who note that many of the agreements he cites were not finalized or have since unraveled. His assertion that he is on the verge of resolving the Iran and Russia-Ukraine conflicts remains speculative, with no concrete breakthroughs announced.
The president's outburst comes as he ramps up his political activities, including a recent trip to deep-blue New York to support allies and his ongoing efforts to shape the Republican Party. His focus on the Nobel snub suggests the prize remains a personal sore point, even as he faces more pressing policy challenges.
