2026 was supposed to be María Corina Machado’s year. Hot off receiving the 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.
But Machado hadn’t contended with quite how unbelievably petty Trump can be. That Nobel Prize she’s strutting around with was supposed to be his, dammit! And so, reportedly, the bitter and vengeful Trump has said accepting was the “ultimate sin”, tantamount to spitting in Trump’s face.
As the Washington Post reports:
Insanity: Sources close to the White House told the Washington Post Trump lost interest in backing Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado to lead the country because she accepted her Nobel Peace Prize rather than demanding it be given to Trump, which was viewed as an… pic.twitter.com/FDVLJZCtJ9
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) January 5, 2026
Never forgive, never forget
Their White House insiders say Trump doesn’t care how much Machada tries to flatter him, he is not going to forgive her for accepting the Nobel Prize, even after she dedicated it to him in her victory speech. As the source says:
“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.”
Now it’s unclear who’s running Venezuela. As of writing, there’s an uneasy power vacuum, with Maduro’s government still technically in power but leaderless. The Trump administration has been clear that it will be “running” Venezuela for the foreseeable future. All of which means that right now, I guess Donald Trump is the de facto president of Venezuela?
Whatever the case, it seems the Machado needs to hop on a flight to DC with the Nobel Prize Medal post haste and conduct an unofficial sham ceremony, re-awarding it to Trump. Maybe after some serious grovelling, they’ll deign to let her be Trump’s official puppet?
One thing’s for sure: no world leader should ever underestimate just how much of a catty queen Trump can be. Cross him – even by accident – and he’ll bear a grudge until the end of his days!
