In 2007, Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for his crusade against climate change and then parlayed that into a $300 million net worth.

Two years later, Barack Obama received the same honor for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy,” particularly with the Muslim world. He’d been president for nine months. Since then, millions have died in conflicts involving Muslim nations. Apparently, diplomacy has a strong shelf life on paper.

Fast forward to 2025. Donald Trump managed to broker a peace deal in the Middle East, ending a two-year war between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Whether that peace lasts is anyone’s guess, as that corner of the world has been killing each other since before written history. For now, guns are silent, hostages freed, and families reunited.

At the same time, Trump has been mediating a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, a conflict that has consumed the world’s headlines and American wallets for three years. If successful, it would rank among the most consequential diplomatic achievements in decades.

And how did the Nobel Committee respond? With a polite shrug and a yawn. They passed over Trump’s accomplishments and instead awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, citing her “promotion of democratic rights.” Even she thanked Trump for his role in regional stability. The committee, in trying to avoid him, ended up honoring him by proxy.

When Obama won in 2009, the justification was hope. When Trump didn’t in 2025, it was principle. The only consistent principle is politics. Critics from both parties called the decision an embarrassment. If peace is measured by lives spared, Trump did more in one year than most laureates in a lifetime.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone. The Nobel Peace Prize, once the pinnacle of moral authority, has drifted from its founding purpose. Created by Alfred Nobel, the Swedish armament dealer and inventor of dynamite, it was meant to honor those who brought “the greatest benefit to humankind.” Ironically, the man who made his fortune in explosives is now remembered by an award that often detonates controversy instead of celebrating peace.

There have been only four U.S. presidents to win it: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama. Roosevelt ended the Russo-Japanese War. Wilson founded the League of Nations. Carter brought Egypt and Israel to peace. Obama gave a few good speeches — from a teleprompter. Trump, meanwhile, ends wars and frees hostages, but apparently that’s not “peaceful” enough.

Naturally, the liberal media — especially NBC, CNN, MSNBC, and The New York Times — downplayed Trump’s role in the historic deal. They focused instead on the perpetrators, dissecting every move by Hamas and every misstep by Israel. The coverage read like a post-mortem, not a milestone. Anchors who once swooned over symbolic gestures suddenly discovered the fine print of diplomacy. You’d think the ceasefire signed itself.

The silence wasn’t oversight; it was editorial. When facts didn’t fit the narrative, the networks simply cut to commercial. The same outlets that threw parades for Obama’s potential now couldn’t spare a headline for Trump’s reality. In 2009, TIME declared a “New Era for Peace.” In 2025, they couldn’t find room between celebrity divorces.

It wasn’t that they missed the story. They buried it.

In 1901, the Nobel Prize stood for courage and accomplishment. Today, it mirrors the politics of the moment, further cheapened by Obama’s award. The committee seems more comfortable rewarding the promise of peace than the practice of it — easier to honor someone who talks about change than someone who causes it, especially when that someone happens to be a polarizing billionaire from Queens.

In the end, Trump’s snub may be the most fitting tribute of all. Real peace doesn’t come from ceremonies; it comes from hard bargains and grudging handshakes made out of necessity, not applause. Alfred Nobel may have invented dynamite, but the modern Nobel Committee has perfected the art of the dud.