‘That’d be a great honour’: Trump eyes Nobel ahead of meeting with Venezuela’s Machado

Nobel honour fuels political controversy

US President Donald Trump has said he expects to meet Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado next week and indicated he would be willing to accept a Nobel Peace Prize if she decided to share it with him.

“I understand she’s coming in next week sometime, and I look forward to saying hello to her,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity that aired on Thursday. He added that he had heard Machado wanted to give him the prize, saying “and that would be a great honor, I did put out eight wars."

A clip from the Fox News interview was later shared on X by Call to Activism, described as “a leading progressive platform,” alongside the comment: "OMG: Trump says he wants the Nobel Prize belonging to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado and expects her to give it to him when she comes to DC next week. He can’t be insane enough to take out Maduro just because he wanted her award, can he?" The post drew widespread attention, amassing 1.2 million views since it was posted at 2.54am on January 9.

The remarks triggered sharp reactions online. Commenting on X, Dr Cole wrote: "Classic Trump. A brave woman wins the Nobel for helping liberate her country, and all he can think about is how it might end up on his mantel. The narcissism is bottomless." Another user, Floki, echoed the sentiment, saying: "Sounds like the prize motivated the whole thing."

The White House did not immediately offer further details late Thursday about Machado’s visit or outline the agenda for her expected meeting with Trump.

Earlier this week, Machado appeared on Hannity’s programme, where she praised Trump and said she had not spoken to him since October, when she was named the latest Nobel Peace Prize laureate. At the time, Machado had been in hiding in Venezuela during the final days of President Nicolás Maduro’s rule. She later surfaced in Oslo, where her daughter accepted the award on her behalf. Machado has since pledged to return to Venezuela and called for fresh elections to replace Maduro.

During the interview, Machado said: “But I do want to say today, on behalf of the Venezuelan people, how grateful we are for [Trump’s] courageous mission,” adding that she and Venezuelans wanted to “share” the prize with Trump after the US military seized Maduro and his wife and transported them to New York to face narco-terrorism charges.

Machado, a former member of Venezuela’s National Assembly, won the opposition primary election two years ago but was barred by Maduro from contesting the general election. Maduro later declared victory over the opposition-backed candidate, though ballot audits conducted by The Washington Post and independent monitors found the reported results to be invalid.

Following the US-led operation to arrest Maduro last Saturday, Trump said Washington would “run” Venezuela in coordination with Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s vice president, who has since assumed the role of acting leader. Trump has not outlined a timeline for elections and expressed doubts about Machado’s domestic standing. “I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader,” he told reporters last weekend. “She doesn’t have the support within, or the respect within, the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”

Previously, two individuals close to the White House told The Washington Post that Trump had been reluctant to back Machado because she accepted the Peace Prize. “If she had turned it down and said, ‘I can’t accept it because it’s Donald Trump’s,’ she’d be the president of Venezuela today,” one of them said, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Machado, however, told Hannity that she believed she would secure a landslide victory if free elections were held.