Machado presented Trump with her Nobel award at White House meeting (www.bbc.co.uk)
from MonsterMonster@lemmy.world to world@lemmy.world on 15 Jan 2026 21:50
https://lemmy.world/post/41675683

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado told reporters she presented the medal for her Nobel Peace Prize to President Donald Trump at a private White House meeting on Thursday, but did not say if he accepted it.

“I think today is a historic day for us Venezuelans,” she said after the meeting with Trump, the first time the two have met in-person.

#world

threaded - newest

MonsterMonster@lemmy.world on 15 Jan 2026 21:52 next collapse

It’s like bribing and appeasing a toddler at the same time.

Paper_Phrog@lemmy.world on 15 Jan 2026 22:47 next collapse

You know what they say. It’s easy as bribing a toddler.

sns@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 15 Jan 2026 23:08 next collapse

More like bribing someone who is known as a child rapist.

cannedtuna@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 00:29 collapse

I mean, what does a trophy matter in the long run if it means her country and people might be left alone by a madman? She still was the one who was awarded the Nobel and Trump can’t take that away from her.

elbucho@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 02:39 next collapse

She’s not doing it in the interest of Venezuela. She’s doing it so that he’ll make her the puppet leader of Venezuela. She’s not Gandhi; she’s Vidkun Quisling.

boonhet@sopuli.xyz on 16 Jan 2026 20:10 collapse

To be clear, she was praising Trump long before the events of this month. She never wanted the country or her people to be left alone, she wanted all this to happen so she could suck up to him and be installed. Did she have a hand in actually making it (the war and the Maduro kidnapping) happen? Probably not, but she was dealt the exact hand she wanted so now she can enjoy it.

Soulphite@reddthat.com on 15 Jan 2026 21:54 next collapse

Quit enabling the pedophile god dammit. Now you’re a pedophile by association, Maria, you fucking idiot.

Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca on 15 Jan 2026 21:59 next collapse

Boot licker.

apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world on 15 Jan 2026 22:00 next collapse

Fascist sycophant.

RIotingPacifist@lemmy.world on 15 Jan 2026 22:06 next collapse

Did South Park do this as a bit already?

not_that_guy05@lemmy.world on 15 Jan 2026 22:46 collapse

I don’t think so. It was the FIFA and Apple One that they did.

kokesh@lemmy.world on 15 Jan 2026 22:12 next collapse

What a dumb bitch. I think after this the Nobel committee should retrospectively take it away from her, so that orange fuck can’t claim that he got it.

Cyclist@lemmy.world on 15 Jan 2026 22:38 next collapse

I wish they would, but they have publicly stated that it can’t be transferred, shared, or revoked.

gustofwind@lemmy.world on 15 Jan 2026 22:43 next collapse

It just can be physically handed to Trump to keep forever 😉

saimen@feddit.org on 16 Jan 2026 10:44 collapse

And the plate says she’s giving it to Trump “symbolically”

Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 16 Jan 2026 11:52 collapse

Given Trump’s relation with reality and mental age, the formalism are irrelevant: in his mind if he has the shinny thing then the prize is his.

nialv7@lemmy.world on 15 Jan 2026 23:02 next collapse

She got the Nobel Peace prize. Do you know who else got the Peace prize?

Henry Kissinger.

Boiglenoight@lemmy.world on 15 Jan 2026 23:04 next collapse

So did Obama, right before he ordered a bunch of strikes.

sns@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 15 Jan 2026 23:11 next collapse

If you think Obama is comparable to Kissinger then you might be a Trump voter.

butwhyishischinabook@piefed.social on 16 Jan 2026 01:07 next collapse

Don’t be campist. Kissinger was obviously worlds worse, but Obama killed an insane amount of civilians with drones and claimed that because they were military aged males they were actually combatants. He double tapped to kill first responders and assassinated a US citizen with a drone strike and no due process. Just because the Republicans are far more evil doesn’t make Obama’s rampant war crimes any less awful.

Zorque@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 01:11 next collapse

Hey, there’s multiple options. They could be a “stay at home and not bother” voter instead. They are the largest electoral demographic in the US after all.

JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 05:05 collapse

Well, Trump voters and a whole bunch of dems thought kamala was comparable to trump.

MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world on 15 Jan 2026 23:56 collapse

Yes…”before” is a pretty important qualifier.

The Obama prize can be viewed as an aspirational prize: rewarding rhetoric that was a drastic change from the typical US hawkish rhetoric and policy that had been increasing since Reagan. They ultimately got it wrong…very very wrong…but at least it was based on something.

Kissinger, on the other hand, was tantamount to a war criminal and everybody knew it.

Giving it to Machado just tells us that the prize is fully corrupted, considering her violent rhetoric. Not just that - but the notion that she was promoting democracy is laughable, given her statements about installing a regime that would be resistant or immune to leftist political victories.

Boiglenoight@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 04:31 collapse

If I recall correctly, it was awarded before he actually did anything. It felt like wishful thinking, and then he proceeded to authorize strikes somewhere.

MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world on 16 Jan 2026 20:15 collapse

Yeah…it was based mostly on rhetoric but also early policy…which isn’t nothing. Close to…but still. He did things like sign an executive order to close Guantanamo and laid out a plan to stop the Iraq war. We know what actually happened…but we also know that it wasn’t solely his decision to reneg.

It made sense because of how hawkish everything had been up until then. There wasn’t a sense that he’d essentially become a lame duck in the first midterms…and that he’d do so much for the hawks and get nothing in return.

Boiglenoight@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 20:28 collapse

I didn’t have any problems with what Obama did at that time. I just thought it was premature to give him the award. It made it seem meaningless.

MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world on 17 Jan 2026 06:32 collapse

Yeah…I agree…but both things are true, IMO. It made sense at the time, and in hindsight it was a mistake.

Some folks act like he was awarded the prize after the drone strike escalation…which isn’t strictly true.

slaacaa@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 06:21 collapse

So Trump just needs to bomb more civilians without congressional approval. Easy

Serinus@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 02:34 collapse

She’s giving up a piece of metal in the hopes that it’ll help her country. The country that she’s the rightful president of.

Aqarius@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 09:07 collapse

This is Juan Guaido erasure!

Treczoks@lemmy.world on 15 Jan 2026 22:16 next collapse

If it makes him shut up on one issue, fine. Pacifier for the big baby.

Does not change the fact that the Nobel Prize is not transferrable.

b_tr3e@feddit.org on 16 Jan 2026 01:15 collapse

Doesn’t matter, because Trump doesn’t know. Even if he did it wouldn’t keep him from claiming it was “his” Nobel Prize. “It was given to me, so it’s mine., see? All mine.”

NChiwana76@lemmy.world on 15 Jan 2026 22:28 next collapse

So foolish, she knows not who she deals with. I guess I cannot fault her for trying though but appeasement of a megalomaniac rarely works out.

FaceDeer@fedia.io on 16 Jan 2026 00:29 collapse

There isn't exactly a huge market of people to trade Nobel Prizes to in exchange for political favors, so it's not like a better option is likely to come along.

Wytch@lemmy.zip on 15 Jan 2026 22:34 next collapse

I don’t have enough vomit for this, can I borrow someone else’s

GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca on 15 Jan 2026 22:34 next collapse

I’m clearly missing some huge portions of this [complicated] picture.

wtaf. 😐

DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world on 15 Jan 2026 23:11 next collapse

First, the prize, like most such prizes, is a popularity contest, merit be damned.

Second, as everyone knows, except perhaps Trump, the statue is worthless without the intent behind it. She gave him a paperweight, probably cheaper than whatever gift she would have given otherwise.

AbidanYre@lemmy.world on 15 Jan 2026 23:31 next collapse

I mean, some idiot gave him a purple heart last time and he thought it was pretty cool.

b_tr3e@feddit.org on 16 Jan 2026 11:10 collapse

The Nobel prize trophy is a massive gold medal, AFAIK. It is not the Oscar.

Davel23@fedia.io on 15 Jan 2026 23:00 next collapse

did not say if he accepted it

I mean, did she really need to?

NABDad@lemmy.world on 15 Jan 2026 23:19 next collapse

I’m not going to suggest that they’d be better off with Maduro, but surely they could come up with someone better than Trump’s asshole licker.

lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com on 15 Jan 2026 23:28 next collapse

The comments here appear to confirm the Nobel committee awarded the right person: anything a Lemmy circlejerk hates is almost certainly right & good as further evinced by telltale signs such as histrionic meltdowns.

MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world on 16 Jan 2026 00:02 next collapse

Machado, before she won the prize, called for the violent overthrow of the Chavinistas on multiple occasions & promised to hand some of the governance of her country over to corporations. Additionally, she promised to install a regime that would be resistant or immune to leftist wins in elections undercutting the very reason she was given the prize.

Whatever axe you have to grind with the forum you’re using is irrelevant if you can’t articulate an argument.

Sharkticon@lemmy.zip on 16 Jan 2026 06:40 next collapse

She very very clearly was angling to be Pinochet 2.0

MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world on 16 Jan 2026 20:17 collapse

Absolutely. If she was installed as leader I would predict a brutal civil war without heavy ongoing “security” from the US.

lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com on 16 Jan 2026 19:30 collapse

And the comments say none of that as you provide no references to substantiate anything you wrote. “Irrelevant”, “inarticulate” comments, which they all were, need nothing to articulate against them. All I see here is mindless, unsubstantiated rage, so 🤷.

MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world on 16 Jan 2026 20:23 collapse

This is a comments section…not a bibliography. I’m stating public facts…very easy to check.

You haven’t said anything that makes me believe you’re interested in making an argument or would make it worth my time to spoonfeed you. I’m not making obscure statements.

belastend@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 16 Jan 2026 08:24 next collapse

Cringe

elbucho@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 08:59 next collapse

Man, you’re like a pizza cutter. All edge and no point.

ThrowawayPermanente@sh.itjust.works on 16 Jan 2026 11:53 collapse

Pretty much. Sometimes I’m still surprised how deranged people here can be.

hperrin@lemmy.ca on 15 Jan 2026 23:39 next collapse

That’s like buying your boss a “best boss” mug to try to get a raise. It means nothing and your boss is an idiot.

samus12345@sh.itjust.works on 16 Jan 2026 18:28 collapse

More like giving your boss your own “best boss” mug.

MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world on 15 Jan 2026 23:43 next collapse

She’s just dumb if she believed that Trump was going to expend resources and install her as the President. Trump, in a rare moment of accuracy, correctly assessed that installing her would cause unrest…maybe even a war. He much prefers bribing and blackmailing the corrupt entities within the “leftist” system.

psx_crab@lemmy.zip on 15 Jan 2026 23:57 next collapse

Venezuelan is proper fucked if this is the opposition they have.

Jhex@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 00:14 collapse

corruption is the cancer that took Venezuela long ago…

Jhex@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 00:11 next collapse

As a Venezuelan I can say, what a shameful exhibition

Gsus4@mander.xyz on 16 Jan 2026 00:31 next collapse

It basically demeans everyone…the Nobel committee, tramp (blissfully unaware), her…

WanderWisley@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 02:23 next collapse

FIFA peace prize in shambles…

PedroMaldonado@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 02:57 next collapse

Suck up

Formfiller@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 03:18 next collapse

The Nobel committee is a joke

kandoh@reddthat.com on 16 Jan 2026 04:48 next collapse

So pathetic for the both of them

super_user_do@feddit.it on 16 Jan 2026 05:27 next collapse

They are all losing their masks. The weakness and demagogy of Maduro’s leadership, american entrism in the opposition, the failure of international institutions etc . We are all fucked, the values we’ve grown up with and that we studied in school were LIES

NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone on 16 Jan 2026 06:30 next collapse

Did you not always think it was all a sham though?

Aqarius@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 09:05 collapse

“Fascism arises from the collapse of legitimacy of liberal institutions”

Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 05:34 next collapse

What does président Stephen Miller think about that. Trump isn’t the president

Stern@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 05:53 next collapse

I bought a superbowl ring, that means I am now a superbowl champion.

Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 16 Jan 2026 11:54 collapse

That is the logical flow of this, yes.

IronpigsWizard@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 06:01 next collapse

<img alt="SAD" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/ed0284ab-7b7e-4cd2-af4d-469b543a3194.jpeg">

I gotta say, solid contender for most pathetic image of 2026.

AbsolutelyNotAVelociraptor@sh.itjust.works on 16 Jan 2026 07:14 next collapse

And it’s just mid January…

IronpigsWizard@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 07:17 next collapse

Yeah, it feels very disorienting honestly, like we just lived through a year in 2 weeks, heh.

banazir@lemmy.ml on 16 Jan 2026 09:10 collapse

By 2027 I’ll be a decade older. Or dead. Probably dead.

samus12345@sh.itjust.works on 16 Jan 2026 21:03 collapse

It STILL hasn’t been a year since that fetid piece of pig shit assumed office!

IronpigsWizard@lemmy.world on 17 Jan 2026 03:50 collapse

Yeah, I’ve had to remind my friends since roughly late November of this whenever they would gasp and say a variation of, “An there is still three more years of this left”.

samus12345@sh.itjust.works on 17 Jan 2026 13:39 collapse

Extremely optimistic of them to think that things will get better in three years!

CircaV@lemmy.ca on 16 Jan 2026 10:21 next collapse

It’s beyond parody, it’s apocalyptically stupid, it can’t be ridiculed because it’s self-ridiculing in a way that’s never been done before. Merely looking at this image makes you dumber. It’s a vortex, a black hole of stupidity and hubris.

IronpigsWizard@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 11:51 collapse

Your words are like poetry.

saimen@feddit.org on 16 Jan 2026 10:23 next collapse
Kjell@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 18:19 next collapse

It would be funny if she got a chocolate medal to gift him. Like this if you have not seen those medals with chocolate inside.

samus12345@sh.itjust.works on 16 Jan 2026 18:24 next collapse

Washington’s up there like, “Told you fuckers political parties were a problem!”

GraniteM@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 20:57 next collapse
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today on 17 Jan 2026 07:18 collapse

and all that guady gold decorations.

rarsamx@lemmy.ca on 16 Jan 2026 06:20 next collapse

The committee should re-award it given that the recipient doesn’t value it.

elbucho@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 07:44 collapse

Given that the Nobel Prize is basically the moral equivalent of a cracker jack prize at this point, and given that it’s guaranteed to make the Toddler in Chief choke on a McDonald’s cheeseburger, they should give it to Obama. I mean, what the fuck - after giving Kissinger one, it’s not like the committee assigning them can be said to stand for anything approaching morality. Might as well do it for the memes.

Aqarius@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 08:57 collapse

They should just give the next one to Kissinger, posthumously. Just drive the point home.

elbucho@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 09:01 next collapse

Wouldn’t induce as much apoplexy in the diaper wearing fuck. But would still be funny.

bramkaandorp@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 21:33 next collapse

Yeah, make it twins!

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today on 17 Jan 2026 07:17 collapse

better have the necromancer standing by to ressurect him.

Burghler@sh.itjust.works on 16 Jan 2026 06:36 next collapse

Damn, I got fooled thinking she was cool. Nobel peace prize really means dick all now huh

Kjell@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 18:16 collapse

I got bad vibes as soon as she started to talk about sharing the prize with Trump. To be honest I’m a bit worried what will happen in Venezuela if she becomes president. Because people who are willing to do anything to be leaders are rarely good leaders.

IronpigsWizard@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 06:37 next collapse

<img alt="Trump Steak Bag" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/42ff69b4-1d6d-47b1-b21a-8c996b51eab7.webp">

“Thank you for your Nobel Prize, here is a bag of Trump steaks from 1999”

Wispy2891@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 06:47 next collapse

Before: bribes done in secret, big scandal if journalists found out

Now: bribes are given in front of hundreds of journalists and photographers and the receiver is smiling like a toddler getting a box of Lego Duplo

Nastybutler@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 08:03 collapse

Dumbest bribe ever

banazir@lemmy.ml on 16 Jan 2026 07:43 next collapse

This is just naked manipulation. I would be ashamed if someone tried it on me, but what do you know, Trump completely laps it up. She’s a sly and calculating operator, I will give her that.

We truly do live in a clown world.

samus12345@sh.itjust.works on 16 Jan 2026 18:26 collapse

She’s a sly and calculating operator

Glazing Trump is about as easy as it gets.

banazir@lemmy.ml on 16 Jan 2026 18:35 collapse

Certainly true, but being willing to debase yourself like this can’t be easy. Or maybe she’s just trash and it’s super easy for her, I don’t know.

jj4211@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 21:29 collapse

So I heard an interview with one of her associates and they seemed pretty pragmatic about whatever sucking up they need to do to make Trump change things the way they think needs to be changed. And it didn’t sound like they were disappointed or shocked or anything, just that’s the way things go.

Reminds me of speaking with a colleague that was an immigrant from a country with a well known corrupt government. He just couldn’t get as shocked as the rest of us over Trump’s behavior. He recognized it as bad, but as far as he was concerned, that was just life and he was used to it. Disappointed for things to start feeling a bit too much like his home country to be sure, but overt corruption was just the way things were. I could imagine being in the thick of such a government and just being boringly normal about this level of petty corruption.

Grass@sh.itjust.works on 16 Jan 2026 09:15 next collapse

fuck I swear this is pathetic enough to cause an integer overflow or something

clot27@lemmy.zip on 16 Jan 2026 09:22 next collapse

this is so embarrassing for everyone involved, yikes.

Eril@feddit.org on 16 Jan 2026 11:24 collapse

Even for the Nobel Price Committee to some degree. I will be interested in what their reaction will be.

MrFinnbean@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 15:03 next collapse

They already said that the price is given in the moment and cant be regifted or removed because later acts.

So in a way Trump is just as much nobel price winner as much as my cousing is Olympic ski jumping gold metalist. He bought the metal from auction, but it does not mean he earned it.

RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 19:10 collapse

…she just gave and regifted it.

MrFinnbean@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 19:35 collapse

I tought my olympic medal anectode would be good enough. Or do you think that if Michael Phelps gave you you one of his medals it would make you a better swimmer?

Ougie@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 15:16 collapse

Even the Nobel Prize committee? You mean the ones who gave sold it to her in the first place?

mar10sanch32@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 17:38 next collapse

“You can grab them by the peace prize… They let you do anything”

olenkoVD@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 16 Jan 2026 18:50 next collapse

Literally this

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/pictrs/image/7a1b34be-450a-4856-b3b9-6d7b8167a681.webp">

DarkFuture@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 19:41 next collapse

I get that she probably realizes he’s a simpleton and you can get a simpleton to do what you want if you give them gifts.

But still. Have some self respect.

jj4211@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 21:42 collapse

From my talking with someone who grew up under a nation with a corrupt regime, self respect is a luxury that people under such a regime cannot afford when dealing with the government.

Small, petty, corrupt government personnel are a way of life and people just accept this sort of stuff as mundane fact of life.

So such folks are uniquely emotionally prepared for this sort of interaction.

matthewm05@ttrpg.network on 16 Jan 2026 19:58 next collapse

She also loves Israel, go figure.

Not sure what this nobel peace prize is supposed to mean at this point.

culprit@lemmy.ml on 16 Jan 2026 21:09 next collapse

Thank you Trump for attacking the brave people of Venezuela like I’ve been asking the US and Israel to do for years before I got this Peace Prize. Socialism is the work of the devil, and I claim to be a progressive!

If anyone still thinks the “opposition” is not entirely subservient to western interests at this point, they will never learn otherwise.

libre_warrior@lemmy.ml on 16 Jan 2026 21:14 next collapse

What an embarresment for the Nobel Institute.

phoenixz@lemmy.ca on 16 Jan 2026 22:22 collapse

The Nobel institute was already kind of an embarrassment with what they’ve been doing for the past decade.

The Nobel peace prize is just a sad affair

46_and_2@lemmy.world on 17 Jan 2026 07:05 collapse

They gave Obama a Nobel Peace Prize based on vibes alone, in the beginning of his term. Even he was surprised, what a joke.

Formfiller@lemmy.world on 17 Jan 2026 07:21 collapse

This is actually understandable when you consider him a symbol of a new era of race relations in the United States. Unfortunately, this turned out to not be the case but there was a beautiful moment of hope at the time. It seems that the powers that be want to burn the country to the ground to erase that spark of hope. That’s my interpretation of that anyway

DeICEAmerica@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 21:18 next collapse

Low hanging griftard…

DCErik@lemmy.zip on 16 Jan 2026 21:27 next collapse

Another Dunning-Krugerrand for the pile

Mrkawfee@lemmy.world on 16 Jan 2026 22:05 next collapse

What a cheap whore

daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 16 Jan 2026 22:57 next collapse

All Nobel prizes should just sell them on Ebay to show how little value it has.

BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today on 17 Jan 2026 07:17 next collapse

Look at his smile, he actually thinks he won something. what a pathetic little bitch.

He’s the kind of kid that they invented participation trophies for, just so he wouldn’t throw a tantrum at the awards ceremony, and scream “CHEATER!” at everybody, when everybody knows he was ALWAYS the cheater.

Jimm@lemmy.world on 17 Jan 2026 07:40 next collapse

That’s a striking moment whatever people think of Trump, handing over a Nobel award at the White House is heavy with symbolism. It feels like one of those gestures meant to send a message more than make headlines.

Donebrach@lemmy.world on 17 Jan 2026 08:17 next collapse

It probably has a ring camera in it or a literal drone flying near it and the current admin is too stupid to think to do a bug check. Meanwhile all those worst people you’ve played COD with over the years have graduated to murdering actual people and the one really shitty friend from high school (if you’re still in touch) is likely singing their praises on social.

But like, hey it’s important to consider the feelings of someone who is sad about eating animals but still eats fish because they aren’t animals right?

Ilixtze@lemmy.ml on 17 Jan 2026 15:35 collapse

I would not want a bootlicker like Corina Machado as the leader of my country and still it is not bootlicker enough for the pedophile crime syndicate of america.