Last Updated on: 17th January 2026, 04:52 pm
I feel indescribably horrible for this woman. Handing over one of the highest honours a person can achieve in a lifetime to a self-obsessed, miserable manbaby who by no objective, reality-based measure deserves to be within 10000 miles of it in the hopes that it will appease him sufficiently that he will allow you even the smallest bit of influence over the fate of a country that belongs to you but not him is a feeling I hope never to fully comprehend. It’s an act that feels at once impossibly honourable yet impossibly disappointing.
The talk of historical mutual respect between the two countries is a nice story that I hope helps her rest a little easier at night, but anyone who knows even the slightest bit about Donald Trump is well aware that it’s nothing more than that. Where Trump is concerned, there’s no such thing as mutual respect. Loyalty is a 1-way street. The moment you’ve outlived your usefulness or should you dare to come up for air without permission while you’re supposed to be tonguing his derriere, you’re dead to him. He is, has always been, and will only ever be out for one person. And that person ain’t you, María.
The US president has declined to endorse Machado as Venezuela’s new leader, despite her movement claiming victory in 2024’s widely contested elections.
Trump has instead been dealing with the acting head of state in Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former vice-president.
But he said meeting Machado was a “great honor”, calling her a “wonderful woman who has been through so much”.
After leaving the White House, Machado spoke to supporters gathered at the gates outside, telling them in Spanish, according to the Associated Press: “We can count on President Trump.”
“I presented the president of the United States the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize,” Machado later told journalists in English, calling it “a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom”.Trump, who often speaks about his desire to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, had expressed displeasure when it was given to Machado and she decided to accept the honour last year.
In her remarks, Machado described how the Marquis de Lafayette, who fought in America’s Revolutionary War, gave a medal bearing the likeness of George Washington to Simon Bolivar, one of the founding fathers of modern Venezuela.
The gift was “a sign of the brotherhood” between her country and the US “in their fight for freedom against tyranny,” Machado said.
“And 200 years in history, the people of Bolivar are giving back to the heir of Washington a medal – in this case a medal of the Nobel Peace Prize – as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom,” she said.