White House's first reaction as Donald Trump misses out on Nobel Peace Prize: 'Placing politics over peace'

The Nobel Committee’s decision to award the Peace Prize to Venezuela’s Maria Corina Machado instead of United States President Donald Trump drew a sharp rebuke from the White House, which accused the panel of “choosing politics over peace.” In a strongly worded statement, it said the President would stay focused on “making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives,” despite the perceived snub.

White House spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a post on X, “President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will.”

“The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace.”

Trump and others such as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump administration officials have aggressively campaigned for the Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded to the US President. The snub also comes just after a ceasefire and hostage deal to end the war in Gaza was signed upon by Israel and Hamas.

While Donald Trump has never explicitly demanded the honour, he has often cited the “wars he stopped” whenever he was questioned about the Nobel Peace Prize. Calls for Donald Trump to receive a Nobel Peace Prize had grown louder recently after Israel and Hamas held talks to pause the war — following US-brokered mediation.

The Gaza peace deal came two years after the Hamas fighters crossed Gaza on October 7, 2023, and killed nearly 1,200 people in Israel, and took over 250 people as hostage. In Israel's counterattack since then, more than 67,000 people have died in Gaza.

Benjamin Netanyahu even shared an AI-generated image of Trump receiving the Nobel Peace Prize after both sides agreed to the deal.

Captioned “Give @realDonaldTrump the Nobel Peace Prize - he deserves it!”, the AI image shows Donald Trump, surrounded by a crowd, standing with his arms raised in celebration, wearing a large, exaggerated gold medal around his neck designed to look like a Nobel Peace Prize.

Donald Trump has not yet commented on the Nobel decision, but he did post three videos on his Truth Social account on Friday morning of supporters celebrating the Gaza deal. He has also claimed to have stopped the conflict between India and Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack, claiming he used trade to get the two countries on the negotiating table.

India has denied all claims.

Close watchers of the Nobel process, however, told Reuters that Trump's Gaza deal probably materialized too late to be considered for this year's prize, which technically covers achievements in 2024.