In Alfred Nobel’s will, the Peace Prize is intended for the person who has done the most to advance “fraternity between nations.” This foundational clause may be the single biggest reason why Donald Trump was overlooked for the 2025 prize, which was instead awarded to María Corina Machado.
Trump’s entire political ethos, encapsulated in “America First,” is a direct challenge to the concept of international fraternity. His approach prioritizes national interest over collective well-being and often treats international relations as a zero-sum game of winners and losers.
While he did broker agreements between some nations, his broader record of withdrawing from international treaties (like the Paris Agreement and Iran nuclear deal) and criticizing alliances like NATO runs counter to the spirit of building a global community.
María Corina Machado, on the other hand, was honored for building fraternity within her own nation’s opposition—a microcosm of the collaborative spirit the prize seeks to foster. Her work is about creating unity, not asserting dominance.
The Nobel committee takes the “fraternity” clause seriously. It is the moral and philosophical core of the prize. Trump’s candidacy, built on a foundation of nationalism, simply could not satisfy this most fundamental of requirements.