CNN Anchors Roast Trump Over Yoinked Nobel Prize — Mock it As Coerced ‘Participation Trophy’

CNN anchors like Jake Tapper, Kasie Hunt, and Erin Burnett roasted President Donald Trump over his acceptance of a gift award — the Nobel Peace Prize medal — that he did not win, mocking it as a coerced “participation trophy.”

Trump has been foreshadowing that he would be honored to accept the Nobel Peace Prize from 2025 recipient María Corina Machado. After reporting that suggested her failure to refuse the prize contributed to Trump’s decision not to support her, Machado told Sean Hannity she’d love to give her award to the president.

Machado and Trump closed the deal on Thursday at the White House, although the honor that goes with the award is non-transferable.

In segment after segment, CNN hosts and anchors roasted and mocked Trump over the “honor.”

Tapper wryly repeated a Trump quote as he wrapped up a Kaitlan Collins hit when the news was fresh: “He can’t think of anyone who deserves a Nobel Peace Prize more than him.”

He stressed that quote again on X/Twitter.

Hunt reported on the news, then told a panelist “I’m reminded of all the people who said, like, we were, you know, giving little kids too many soccer trophies just for participating and how this is going to make all of our children weaker.”

Burnett delivered a blistering commentary suggesting the gift was coerced and mocking Trump’s FIFA Peace Prize:

OUTFRONT tonight, Trump gets his Nobel Peace Prize. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado brought the medal to the White House today. She says she offered it to Trump. Yes. This happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

As for Machado, she really didn’t have a choice. All right. She needs Trump. And Trump cares this much. He cares this much about this prize. So much that he had demeaned her ability to lead Venezuela. I mean, you may remember that in his incredible press conference after he removed Maduro.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Now subsequent to that, two people close to the White House told “The Washington Post” that if she had turned it down, referring to the peace prize initially and said, I can’t accept it because its Donald Trump’s, shed be the president of Venezuela today.

Now, then Trump was asked about that report by NBC News. He denied it, but his denial is quite revealing. He told NBC she should not have won, but that had nothing to do with his decision.

Of course. Tonight, Trump was given the prize he felt he’d earned, the one thing that has eluded him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I can’t think of anybody in history that should get the Nobel Prize more than me. And I don’t want to be bragging, but nobody else settled wars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: All right. Now here’s one really crucial caveat to this whole thing, which, you know, it may or may not matter. Maybe he just wants the physical thing, but maybe having the actual prize itself is the prize. I mean, he’s got maybe the prize in his possession. Okay? So maybe he’s holding it, but that does not mean he won it. The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which was concerned that Machado could share the prestigious honor with Trump, issued this statement, which, by the way, I really encourage everybody to read it in full.

There is a lot in here I cant share right now. It is worth reading it. But they say once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to others. The decision is final and stands for all time.

And then they continued to say that the decision to give Machado the Peace Prize was because she kept the, quote, “flame of democracy burning amidst a growing darkness”. They praised her tireless work for promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela, and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.

But back to today, and the spectacle and the fact that Machado didn’t have a choice. Trump had questioned whether she could run the country, right, whether she had the support. And Trump, of course, posted a mocked up Wikipedia page of himself this week saying that he is the acting president of Venezuela, so that the true irony here is that the road to any potential democracy in Venezuela does run through Donald Trump right now, an independently verified vote counts in Venezuela’s presidential election in 2024 showed that Machado’s party beat Maduro by a wide margin.

Maduro, though, of course rubber-stamped the winner. Right now, though, Trump has replaced Maduro with Maduro’s V.P.

So, if giving Trump a physical peace prize affects the outcome, does she have any choice? Because Trump’s obsession with the prize is just that. Do you remember just about six weeks ago when Trump very openly celebrated what he called one of the greatest honors of his life, and that was winning the FIFA Peace Prize?

(BEGIN VIDEEO CLIP)

GIANNI INFANTINO, FIFA PRESIDENT: And therefore, FIFA, the Federacion Internationale De Football Association, awards the 2025 FIFA Peace Prize, football unites the world, to Donald J. Trump, president of the United States of America, in recognition of his exceptional and extraordinary actions to promote peace and unity around the world. Friday, December 5th, 2025.

This is the certificate. It’s yours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Just to be clear, that was the first and the only year that FIFA, the soccer organization, has given out a peace prize. But the world, and certainly leaders from everywhere, they know that sometimes you got to do what you got to do when it comes to Trump. And that may be showering him with the one thing that seems to matter more than anything else.

Watch above via CNN.

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