I had to write a blog this week about the continued integrity of the Nobel Prize Committee in selecting Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan democratic leader, for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, despite the intense pressure, applied by Donald Trump and his acolytes, to give it to him. Out of curiosity, I looked up the guidelines the Committee has always used in the selection process, and Maria Corina easily meets every criteria – Donald Trump, on the other hand, meets virtually none. It would have put a huge dent in the credibility of the Nobel Prize process, and the value of the award, if the Committee had bowed to Trump’s ego and pressure. As Committee Chairman, Jørgen Watne Frydnes said: “We base our decision only on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.” I also read this morning, Saturday, that Vladimir Putin chastised the Nobel Prize Committee for not giving the prize to Trump, which is a complete affirmation of their correct decision.
I should add that the words the Committee used to describe Maria Corina could be taken as a direct condemnation of Donald Trump. (This is my interpretation – I don’t know whether the Committee said that as an indictment, or inadvertently). The Committee described the 58-year-old activist as a “woman who keeps the flame of democracy going, amidst a growing darkness” and commended her for her efforts to “achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy”. Frydnes was critical of Venezuela’s leadership during a news conference after the prize was announced, saying the committee saw the same trends emerging around the world. “The rule of law abused by those in control, free media silenced, critics imprisoned, and societies pushed towards authoritarian rule and militarization,” he said. I can’t think of a better way of illustrating how Trump’s actions are the total antithesis of the Committee’s words and guidelines.
I hesitated to use the next quote in this blog, for obvious reasons when you read it, but I think it fully illustrates the banality, blatant myopic loyalty and, quite frankly, arrant stupidity of Trump’s White House sycophants. In that sense, it is worth repeating. Reacting to Friday’s Nobel Peace Prize announcement, the White House’s communications director Steven Cheung wrote in a post on X that the “Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace. President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will”.
Even the dumbest of loyalists has to realize how such idiotic words will be taken by anyone with an ounce of intelligence. Arrogant/arrant stupidity, as I said.
The courage, commitment, and determination of Maria Corina should also serve as a beacon of hope, and an example to the United States, of what they are deep into the process of losing. It should also be an example for the “as-yet-unknown” American individual who is willing to stand up and be counted against what Trump and his mob are perpetrating. To date, Governors Newsom and Pritzker seem to be the only ones willing to take up the battle to preserve American democracy. I should add that, this week, some other governors, even some republicans, have voiced reservations about Trump’s daily steps towards complete dictatorship. Let’s hope this movement, slow as it is, develops to a critical level before the only viable solution to getting rid of Trump is civil war. America is better, and Americans deserve better, than the current headlong dive into authoritarianism and dictatorship. As Lee Iaccocca, the former head of Chrysler said in the title of one of his books, “Where have all the leaders gone?”
