The White House on Friday criticised the Nobel Prize committee's decision to award the peace prize to a Venezuelan opposition leader instead of U.S. President Donald Trump. "President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will," White House spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a post on X.
"The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace." The Norwegian Nobel Committee granted the annual award to Venezuela's Maria Corina Machado, citing "courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist" authoritarian leadership.
Trump has campaigned aggressively for the prize, and just this week announced a ceasefire and hostage deal to end the war in Gaza.
The Republican president has not yet commented on the Nobel decision, but he did post three videos on his Truth Social account on Friday morning of supporters celebrating the Gaza deal.
However, eperienced Nobel-watchers had already said that a Trump win was extremely unlikely, citing what they see as his efforts to dismantle the post-World War Two international world order the Nobel committee cherishes.
Instead, they said the committee may wish to highlight Sudanese volunteer network the Emergency Response Rooms, a UN body such as the UN refugee agency UNHCR, the UN children's agency Unicef or the International Court of Justice, or an aid organisation such as the Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders.
