Appeasement

 

The Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has presented her gold Nobel peace prize medal to Donald Trump after meeting him in the White House, nearly a fortnight after he ordered the abduction of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro.

Machado, who received the award last year for her struggle against Maduro’s “brutal, authoritarian state,” told reporters on Thursday she had made the gesture in recognition of the US president’s “unique commitment [to] our freedom.”

Several hours later, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Machado “presented me with her Nobel peace prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.”

What have the peace prize organizers said?  Earlier in the day, they posted on X: “A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel peace prize laureate cannot!”