Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado lauded Donald Trump on Fox News before beating him to the award that the U.S. president so desperately wanted.
Venezuela’s opposition leader—a staunch critic of President Nicolás Maduro—was named the 2025 laureate on Friday for tirelessly campaigning for democracy in her home country.
The decision has infuriated MAGAworld, who were also desperate to see their hero win the gong and its $1 million prize after his frantic lobbying.
Their annoyance has been compounded after Machado, a month earlier, used a hit on Trump’s favorite news channel to hail his hard-line posture against Venezuelan “narco-terrorists,” days after the White House boasted of a U.S. strike on an alleged drug boat.
Giving the sort of brave interview that saw the Norwegian Nobel Committee hand the prize to Machado, she told Fox & Friends on Sept. 4, “I want to tell how grateful we are to President Trump and the administration for addressing the tragedy that Venezuela is going through.
“Maduro has turned Venezuela into the biggest threat to the national security of the U.S. and the stability of the region.
“And this is about saving lives, not only Venezuelan lives, but also life of American people. Because... Maduro is the head of a narco terrorist structure corporation.
“So Maduro [is] understanding finally, that the time of impunity is over, and it is in his best interest to accept the will of the people that voted against him. It’s time to go.”
Machado also described a climate of fear under Maduro: “Maduro has no capacity to retaliate against [the] United States or the international community. So he goes against the most vulnerable.
“There are more than 800 political prisoners. Everybody that raises their voice in Venezuela is threatened.
“We know what to do once Maduro goes out to take over government, put order, bring security, and turn Venezuela into the strongest US ally in the region, in security, in energy, in trade. And you will see millions of Venezuelan migrants coming back home as soon as Maduro goes.”
Machado backed opposition standard-bearer Edmundo González Urrutia in last year’s election, which Washington recognized as his win. Maduro declared victory anyway—and stayed put.
Forced into hiding for months amid threats and prosecutions, Machado remains one of Venezuela’s most prominent dissidents even as the regime bans her from public office, blocking her from the 2024 presidential ballot.
As Machado‘s win was announced, right-wing activist Laura Loomer chimed in. “Imagine thinking a woman who cries nonstop about @NicolasMaduro has done more for the world than President Trump. 🙄 What an absolute joke,” she wrote on X. “Everyone knows President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. More affirmative action nonsense.”
Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff Steven Miller, also gave her decidedly MAGA take. “President Obama was given a Nobel months into his Presidency without ending any wars. President Trump has now ended EIGHT wars,” she wrote on X, adding, “POLITICS OVER PEACE.”
In April, Time named Machado to its TIME100 list of the world’s most influential people.
Machado will be presented with the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Dec. 10.
“She is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for our struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy,” announced Jørgen Watne Frydnes, the committee’s chairman.
White House spokesperson Steven Cheung suggested that picking Machado was proof that the committee placed “politics over peace.”
Machado’s recognition came despite Trump’s team having pushed for him to win, despite the campaign of lethal boat strikes that have killed at least 21 people since Sept. 2 and sparked allegations of extrajudicial killings.
Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have touted the operations as necessary, with Hegseth boasting, “we smoked a drug boat,” after the first strike that the administration said killed 11 “narco-terrorists.”
But the administration has not provided the names of the dead or proof that the vessels carried narcotics.
Senior Pentagon lawyers have warned internally about potential illegality as the White House leans on a secret DOJ opinion to justify a “forever war” against cartels, which critics say bypasses due process.
Despite Machado’s praise of the operations, Rand Paul, one of the few Republicans openly opposing the strikes, has argued that maritime interdictions frequently find no contraband.
“About 25 percent of the time, the boat that they board doesn’t have drugs on it… We’ve blown up four boats,” he told Bloomberg on Wednesday, questioning the policy of sinking suspect craft rather than boarding and arresting crews.
Regional blowback has also grown. Colombia’s president accused Washington of “murder” after the fourth strike, following which U.S. officials have not publicly identified the dead.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
