Trump says Norway left an indelible stain by giving the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay
Trump said the 2026 Peace Prize, awarded to Navi Pillay, left an 'indelible stain' on Norway. He made the remarks at a rally in Syracuse, New York, on Friday, and repeated that he had never heard of her.
The announcement and the rally
The Nobel committee awarded this year's Peace Prize to Navi Pillay on Friday, and Donald Trump responded hours later at a rally in Syracuse, New York. Reuters describes the event as a campaign rally, while the Guardian says it was meant to be a rally for other Republican candidates. Trump devoted a long portion of his speech to his grievances with the committee. He has expressed disappointment at not winning the prize in each year of his presidency.
- Committee awards the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay
- Trump criticises the decision at a campaign rally in Syracuse, New York, hours later
Trump's attack on Norway
Trump said the United States, represented by him as president, should have received the prize but did not. He described the decision as another sign of how Norway and all these others are ripping off our country, according to Bloomberg. Norway hosts the Nobel committee, and Trump directed his criticism at the country as well as the panel.
This is an indelible stain on the country of Norway and those people that made such a disgraceful and embarrassing decision.
Trump also said the prize had been discredited and warned that the country would not be forgotten.
The Nobel peace prize has been forever discredited by a handful of radical ideologues who are anti-democracy and really enemies of civilization.
Who Navi Pillay is
Reuters describes Pillay as a former International Criminal Court judge who oversaw a UN report concluding that Israel committed genocide in Gaza. The Guardian describes her as the South African former UN human rights chief who chaired the UN commission that reached the same conclusion. Trump called her a 'mystery person' during the rally and said he had never heard of her.
I never heard of the person. Nobody did.
Claims about Iran and other conflicts
Trump listed conflicts he said he had helped resolve, including claims that he prevented wars between North and South Korea, between Japan and North Korea, and between China and Taiwan. He offered no evidence for these claims. He said he was about to settle or win two more wars, Iran and Russia-Ukraine, and that he would end both quickly.
Iran will be very quick one way or the other: that they give us everything or they don't exist any longer.
Trump also claimed he had stopped Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The Guardian notes that the complaint came in a year when Trump started a war with Iran. US intelligence agencies reported to Congress in 2025 that Iran had suspended its pursuit of nuclear weapons in 2003.
Midterm warning and Greenland
At the same rally, Trump told Democrats they would have a big surprise in the midterm elections for Congress, saying Republicans would win both the House and the Senate. He also said he had taken Greenland, referring to a renewed agreement to keep US military bases on the island permanently. Trump used the rally to attack the Nobel committee and to deliver these campaign messages within the same speech.
