The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize decision highlights the difference between a campaign for a prize and a campaign for a principle. Donald Trump campaigned for the prize itself, while María Corina Machado’s entire career has been a campaign for the principle of democracy. The principle won.
Trump’s lobbying was overt. His administration and his supporters made it clear that they believed he deserved the award and actively sought it. The prize was the goal.
Machado’s goal was not a prize, but a free Venezuela. Her “tireless work” to unify the opposition and demand free elections was the means to achieve that principle. The Nobel Prize was a consequence of her work, not its objective.
The Nobel committee, a body dedicated to the principles laid out in Alfred Nobel’s will, was always more likely to be swayed by the candidate who embodied those principles. They rewarded the person whose work was an end in itself.
The White House response, which focused on Trump’s personal attributes and future deals, further reinforced the idea that their campaign was about him. Machado’s win, meanwhile, was celebrated as a victory for the Venezuelan people and the principle of democracy they are fighting for.
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