2026 was supposed to be María Corina Machado’s year. Hot off receiving the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, she must have strongly suspected (or outright knew) that Donald Trump had Maduro squarely in his crosshairs and that regime change in Venezuela was on the cards.
With that Nobel Prize under her belt, the fawning support of both Western liberal and conservative media, and her own public praise and support of Donald Trump, Machado probably assumed she’d waltz into Caracas and be installed as interim president pending an election, which the United States would do everything in its power to ensure she’d win.
And so she made her move, sucking up her pride and plastering a rictus grin on her face as she handed Trump her Nobel Prize medal, doubtless telling herself that sacrificing this trinket was worth obtaining a bigger prize of running Venezuela.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said that the honor of the Nobel Peace Prize remains permanently linked to its original laureate, after Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado handed her medal to US President Donald Trump.
— TRT World (@trtworld) January 18, 2026
The committee said laureates are free to give… pic.twitter.com/jNw9EV6O5h
Now, a new report from CNN says Machado wasn’t even mentioned during Trump administration talks for a post-Maduro transition plan. This stems from talks that took place in Qatar, with a Qatari source underlining that “neither US nor Venezuelan officials discussed Machado” at any time.
This is backed up by Trump’s own apparent disdain for her, and he even openly told reporters he didn’t think she had enough support in Venezuela to be installed as leader. That position didn’t shift after her humiliation ritual in which she handed over her Nobel medal. Karoline Leavitt was asked if getting her prize had warmed Trump to her, but confirmed his low opinion had “not changed”.
That’s Trump’s medal now
Perhaps there’s a lesson to be learned here about how to deal with Trump. Throughout the whole Nobel Prize affair, Machado was putting together a strategy that would appease Trump, who was convinced that only he was worthy of the 2025 prize. Soon after winning, she publicly praised Trump, telling him “how grateful the Venezuelan people are for what he’s doing, not only in the Americas, but around the world for peace, for freedom, for democracy”.
But White House insiders said this wasn’t enough and that Trump didn’t care how much Machada tries to flatter him, he is not going to forgive her for accepting “his” Nobel Prize:
“If she had turned it down and said “I can’t accept this because it’s Donald Trump’s”, she’d be the president of Venezuela today.”
But actually handing him the medal was a strategic mistake. Now that Trump has the medal (presumably currently forgotten and collecting dust in some drawer), Machado has no leverage over him, he has no further need for her, and anyway, that’s “his” prize that she temporarily stole, so what did she even really do for him?!
All of which leaves Machado with no medal, no dignity, and no role in running Venezuela. A swing and a miss.
Published: May 11, 2026 08:26 am