Nobel Prize committee says Machado decision to give Trump award doesn’t change who won; The Hill, January 16, 2026

SOPHIE BRAMS, The Hill; Nobel Prize committee says Machado decision to give Trump award doesn’t change who won

 "The committee that awards the Nobel Prize said Friday that the physical symbols of the prize — a medal and diploma — can be given away, but the honor itself is “inseparably linked” to the winner.  

“The medal and the diploma are the physical symbols confirming that an individual or organisation has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize itself – the honour and recognition – remains inseparably linked to the person or organisation designated as the laureate by the Norwegian Nobel Committee,” the committee said in a statement."

Trump says he will meet Machado — and would accept Nobel Peace Prize from her; The Washington Post, January 9, 2026

Cleve R. Wootson Jr.

 and 

Maham Javaid

, The Washington Post; Trump says he will meet Machado — and would accept Nobel Peace Prize from her

[Kip Currier: It's unfathomable for me to understand how someone could ethically and intellectually accept the Nobel Peace Prize from the individual who won that prize, knowing that the Nobel Committee members made the decision to bestow it on the person they deemed most deserved it.

Fortunately, this scenario remains in the realm of a thought experiment because of Nobel policy that prizes "may not be shared or transferred."]

[Excerpt]

"President Donald Trump said he would accept the Nobel Peace Prize if this year’s prize winner, María Corina Machado, offered it to him when she meets with him next week, but Nobel officials quickly announced Friday that the prize may not be shared or transferred.

“Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to others,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee and the Norwegian Nobel Institute said Friday. “The decision is final and stands for all time.”

“I understand she’s coming in next week sometime, and I look forward to saying hello to her,” Trump said of the Venezuelan opposition leader during an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity that aired Thursday. Trump added that he heard Machado wants to give him the prize, and that it would be “a great honor.”"

How Machado Lost Her Chance to Lead Venezuela; The New York Times, January 8, 2026

Francisco Rodríguez, The New York Times; How Machado Lost Her Chance to Lead Venezuela

[Kip Currier: The excerpt below, from this trenchant New York Times piece on Trump's intentions for Venezuela, uncovers the Mafia-esque corruption and transactional foreign policy that epitomizes Trump 2.0.]

[Excerpt]

"When the Trump administration made the decision to carry out a surgical operation to extract Mr. Maduro instead of occupying the country, it also chose, at least in the short term, to work with a state structure designed and run by supporters of Mr. Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chávez. Ms. Machado, who describes that structure as a mafia, is simply not a figure who can coexist with those institutions."