Maria Corina Machado thought she had all her ducks lined up in a row. She must have been all but certain Donald Trump was going to depose Nicolás Maduro one way or another and presumed she was the natural replacement.
Being garlanded with the Nobel Peace Prize only cemented that, granting her fawning coverage across liberal and conservative media. There was the minor wrinkle that Trump himself had coveted the Nobel Prize, but as she’d effusively praised him in her acceptance speech and been a stalwart supporter, he’d definitely see reason on this. Right?
Ha! Only a fool underestimates the limitless pettiness of one Donald J. Trump. Yesterday, we learned that Trump is furious that Machado accepted “his” Nobel Prize, describing this as the “ultimate sin” and deciding that she will not be president of Venezuela.
Machado appears to have belatedly realized that he’s serious. Now she’s apparently eager to hand the medal to him to win his favor. Speaking to Fox News, she was asked if she’d offered to give him her Nobel Prize and replied:
Hannity: Did you at any point offered to give him the Nobel peace prize?
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 6, 2026
Machado: It hasn’t happened yet. We want to give it to him. Share it with him. pic.twitter.com/fIGSbnjshc
“It hasn’t happened yet. But I certainly would love to be able to personally tell him that the Venezuelan people – because this is a prize of the Venezuelan people – certainly want to give it to him, share it with him.”
Uh, share?! Oh, Maria, even after all this, it’s clear you still don’t understand anything about Donald Trump. He doesn’t want to share your Nobel Prize, not with you, not with the Venezuelan people. He wants it for himself and only himself.
It’s time to grovel
The only thing that might mollify Trump and get you into Caracas is some kind of gaudy ‘official’ ceremony where you place that medal around his neck and solemnly say that you are renouncing all claim to it and that he, not you, is now the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. Sure, it won’t mean anything, and it’s all theater, but he won’t be happy with anything less.
Even if Machado achieves her dream of being Venezuela’s new president, she may rapidly realize it’s a poisoned chalice. Sure, she’ll be the leader on paper, but she’ll be totally subservient to the American oil companies happily draining away Venezuela’s natural resources and wealth, and all political decisions will need the tacit approval of Washington.
But hey, maybe life as the figurehead puppet of a moron really is all she’s fought for for so many years!
Published: Jan 6, 2026 06:03 am