Trump was in South Carolina to save midterm seat — then he moaned about not winning Nobel Prize

WorldPolitics
22 Oct 2026 • 7:07 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

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Trump was in South Carolina to save midterm seat — then he moaned about not winning Nobel Prize

President Trump complained again about not winning the Nobel Peace Prize at a midterm rally on Wednesday - and claimed he should also have won a Pulitzer.

The commander-in-chief was at Clemson University in South Carolina to support Senator Darline Graham amid a tight U.S. Senate race, but then veered off onto one of his ongoing obsessions.

​“Last year, the person who got it, a very high quality woman, you know who that is,” he said, referring to Venezuelan activist María Corina Machado.

“And she said that, ‘No, no, I don’t deserve the Nobel Prize. There’s only one person in the world that deserves it.’

​“In fact, she said he deserves it more than any human being that’s gotten it because I settled all these wars.”

​Trump went on to claim that he was told that he could win the prize in 2026, only for someone else to receive it once again.

​“They’ve lost such respect,” he remarked, before claiming to have settled eight wars - a figure that has been widely disputed.

​Then, Trump took a swipe at 85-year-old Navanethem “Navi” Pillay - the winner of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.

​The Nobel Prize website says that she received the award in recognition “for her efforts to promote peace and international law.”

Trump criticized Nobel Peace Prize winner Navi Pillay (pictured) during his speech, claiming that she hates Israel with a 'passion' (Reuters)

“The woman that got it, I don’t know where the hell she comes (sic),” he began. “The only thing I know is she hates Israel. That’s the only thing.”

​“That’s the only thing; she hates Israel with a passion,” he claimed.

​“I didn't get the Nobel Prize. I didn't get the Pulitzer. I should have gotten the Pulitzer for writing, too,” he added.

Trump went on to take a swipe at previous winners of one of the most prestigious awards for writing.

​“The people that got it shouldn't have gotten it, you know?” he asked. “They got a Pulitzer Prize for their accurate and wonderful writing on the subject of Russia, Russia, Russia. But they had it wrong. They all had it wrong.”​

Trump was speaking in support of Senator Darline Graham amid a tense South Carolina US Senate election (Getty)

Trump previously filed a defamation lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize Board, demanding that they rescind prizes awarded to The New York Times and The Washington Post for covering alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. The case remains ongoing.

​At another point in his speech, he took another jab at Pillay although he appeared to confuse the two prizes.

​“They gave the wonderful peace prize, right? Does anybody know the name of that peace prize?” he asked. “They gave the Pulitzer Prize to a young lady. I think she’s 80 years old.”

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