That the Nobel Peace Prize may be about to drag the world into open war has to be one of the most colossal ironies in human history. And yet here we are. Donald Trump craves one but, try as he might, he can’t force anyone to award him one, and now he’s wailing and throwing his toys out of the pram by threatening war.
Over the past few days, we saw 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Machado hand over her Nobel Prize medal to Trump. This gesture humiliates both sides equally, as the Nobel committee repeatedly underlines that you can’t simply award the prize to someone else and have it be legitimate. So congratulations Trump, you have a meaningless trophy.
🇳🇴 Norwegian prime minister says Trump repeatedly begs for the Nobel Peace Prize
— Gandalv (@Microinteracti1) January 18, 2026
Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre says that Donald Trump raises the same issue every time they meet. According to Støre, Donald Trump repeatedly complains, pleads, and demands to know why he… pic.twitter.com/yAYSmMtMxM
Now, incredibly, Trump is using this Nobel ‘snub’ as ammunition to support his planned conquest of Greenland and his ongoing economic war against America’s NATO allies. In a truly bizarre letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, Trump said:
“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace … The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you!”
The baffled Støre has explained that every time he talks to Trump, the president continually demands a Nobel Peace Prize and asks Støre why he hasn’t been awarded one yet. Støre says he repeatedly and patiently explains to Trump that those decisions are made by the Nobel Committee, which he isn’t on and doesn’t have any power over.
The ‘leader of the free world’, ladies and gentlemen
Støre reportedly thinks that this distinction is something that “Trump appears fundamentally unable to grasp.” I mean, I guess we can add that to the teetering pile of things that Trump “is fundamentally unable to grasp”, along with economics, foreign relations, agriculture, energy, etc… etc…
Trump likely presumes that Støre should simply do to the Nobel Committee what he’d do to an organization he wants something from, namely bully, threaten, mock, and economically attack them until they submit. I guess what he truly doesn’t understand is that other world leaders aren’t lying, greedy, venal scumbags like him.
All that said, maybe at this point the Nobel Committee is wishing they’d just given Trump the 2025 prize after all. It’s ultimately a meaningless bauble whose worth has been repeatedly tarnished over the years, and if Henry Kissinger somehow got one, why shouldn’t Trump? Sure, it’d be infuriating watching Trump gloat about it, but sometimes you’ve just got to give the baby its rattle just to stop it crying.
Published: Jan 19, 2026 08:21 am