In 1943, Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun gave his Nobel Prize for Literature to the infamous Nazi criminal.
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| Trump posing with Machado in front of his tacky gold fixtures. Love the shit-eating grin. |
Last month, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the
peace prize to the 58-year-old opposition leader “for her tireless work
promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for
her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship
to democracy.”
Machado joined a notorious group of Nobel Peace laureates
who either waged
or advocated for war, as she backed Trump’s aggression against her country. This
has included a massive troop deployment, military and CIA airstrikes, bombing
of boats allegedly transporting drugs, and the abduction earlier
this month of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Trump has ordered the bombing of nine other countries during his two terms, more than any other president in history. US forces acting on his orders have killed thousands of civilians in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.
While running for
president in 2016, Trump vowed to
“bomb the shit out of” Islamic State militants and “take out their families,”
and then followed through on his promise.
That gesture prompted the Norwegian Nobel Committee to issue
a statement noting that the prize cannot be given away.
“Even if the medal or diploma later comes into someone else’s possession, this does not alter who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,” the committee said. “A laureate cannot share the prize with others, nor transfer it once it has been announced. A Nobel Peace Prize can also never be revoked. The decision is final and applies for all time.”
The committee’s statement was extraordinary—but this is not
the first time that a Nobel winner gave away their prize. In 1943, Norwegian
author Knut Hamsun gifted his 1920 Nobel Prize for Literature—awarded for his novel Markens
Grøde (Growth of the Soil)—to Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph
Goebbels after a trip to Germany. Other Nobel laureates have donated or sold
their medals.
The progressive media outlet Occupy Democrats said on social media:
“Clearly, the similarities between Trump and Goebbels extend beyond just a
mutual admiration for fascism.
Both men possess(ed) the kind of spiritually sick, egotistical temperament that
allows one to accept a prize that someone else has earned.”
“Obviously, Donald Trump does
not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize,” the outlet continued. “He has bombed Iran,
Yemen, Nigeria, innocent fishing boats in the Caribbean, Venezuela, and is in
the process of turning the United States into
a war zone. That said, Machado doesn’t deserve it either.”
“Anyone spineless enough to surrender the prize to an evil
man like Trump in the hopes of obtaining power is not someone we should be
celebrating,” Occupy Democrats added.
Last month, Wikileaks founder and multiple Nobel Peace Prize
nominee Julian
Assange sued the Nobel Foundation—the Swedish organization
that manages administration of the approximately $1.2 million-per-winner
prize—in a bid to prevent Machado from receiving the money.
Machado’s win also sparked
protests outside the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo.
