Posted on Monday, October 13, 2025
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by Herald Boas
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0 Comments
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The prestige of three of the six annual Nobel prizes has declined sharply in recent years, especially the Peace Prize, because the committees in Sweden and Norway which choose the recipients have so often displayed political and ideological bias against conservatives and for individuals who espouse leftist views.
This might be explained in regard to the literature prize because so many writers are on the left. The recently created economics prize has been, on a few occasions, awarded to a conservative.
The Nobel Peace Prize, however, invariably goes to someone on the left — although in many cases, to be fair, they are nonetheless deserved.
This year, the overwhelming popular favorite for the Nobel Peace Prize was U.S. President Donald Trump, a man bitterly criticized by the left worldwide, but whose efforts to promote peace and end conflicts throughout the world, culminating with the just-negotiated ceasefire and return of hostages in Gaza, had even won respect from so many who have opposed him in the past.
In addition to spurring progress toward peace in the Israel-Hamas conflict, President Trump has in less than 10 months in office brokered peace deals between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Cambodia and Thailand, Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Serbia and Kosovo.
Following all of these accomplishments in such a short period of time, I think it is fair to say that Donald Trump was the popular global consensus choice for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025.
The last U.S. president to win the Prize was Barack Obama in 2009. That award was bestowed on the 44th president for “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Unlike Mr. Obama, who was honored for aspirational “efforts” which mostly never yielded concrete results, President Trump has facilitated actual agreements that ended conflicts that were in some cases decades old. His reputation as a master of the “art of the deal” has been on full display.
The Nobel Peace Prize Committee, made up almost entirely of leftist officials, however, ignored this obvious choice, and awarded the Prize instead to Maria Corina Machado, the leader of the opposition to the repressive dictatorship in Venezuela.
In any other year, the brave and outspoken Machado would have been a non-controversial and appropriate choice. She has long stood as one of Venezuela’s most courageous and principled defenders of freedom, democracy, and human rights.
Despite years of persecution and political repression, Machado has inspired millions through her unyielding fight against authoritarianism and her vision for a free, prosperous Venezuela grounded in the rule of law. She often describes her work as promoting “ballots over bullets,” and was recently driven into hiding following a crackdown on dissent by the country’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.
But if the Peace Prize committee intended to snub President Trump (a reasonable likelihood given the recent past Peace Prize awards), they have miscalculated with Maria Corina Machado.
In her first public statement since learning she had won, Machado graciously and forthrightly formally dedicated her winning the Prize to President Trump in recognition of his efforts to promote freedom in Venezuela, as well as his efforts to end wars and bring about peace throughout the world since becoming U.S. president for a second term in January.
“We are on the threshold of victory and today, more than ever, we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic nations of the world as our principal allies to achieve Freedom and democracy,” Machado wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause.”
President Trump also shared that he spoke on the phone with Machado to congratulate her shortly after the award was announced. Prior to his inauguration earlier this year, President Trump called Machado a “freedom fighter.”
Machado has been an outspoken supporter of President Trump, and in a generous manner found an extraordinary way to share the Prize with someone she felt truly deserved it.
Machado will be the recipient of the Peace Prize in Oslo, and she will have earned it. But although he will not be present, President Donald Trump’s numerous and remarkable efforts for ending violent conflicts and wars, saving countless lives, and promoting peace in the world will also be present thanks to this brave and formidable woman.
Herald Boas is an AMAC Newsline contributor.
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