Nobel winner dedicates prize to Trump

[Shrek]

This recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is a boost to conclude our task: to conquer Freedom.

We are on the threshold of victory and today, more than ever, we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic nations of the world as our principal allies to achieve Freedom and democracy.

I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!

Link to tweet

[Irish_Dem]

1. Is she part of the Trump Crime Syndicate and lives on the dark side?

[ananda]

6. I just want to know if she's real?

I mean, who the fuck is she?

[Irish_Dem]

18. For all we know she is another Putin/Trump puppet.

[ananda]

19. So what does that say about Norway?

This is all VERY disconcerting.

[Irish_Dem]

20. Norway is very foolish. Putin would love to invade them.

But they are cozying up to Putin's pals.

[ananda]

21. Thank you.

I'm still in elementary cynicism class.

That makes sense.

[Irish_Dem]

23. Normal cynicism is now way too mild. It looks like optimism.

You have to think of the worst case scenario then multiply it by ten,
make it even worse. And you will still be too optimistic.

[ananda]

25. Well, that's why I come here.

To get knowledge and perspective on things.

All I can say about this turn of events is that...

John Stuart Mill would be turning in his grave.

[Irish_Dem]

46. The cynics hope they are wrong.

Very much hope they are wrong.

Yes what would JS Mill say looking at Trump, a president of the US, a man whose strongest
value is making people as miserable as possible.

[ananda]

47. Good question.

What can an educated political philosopher
say to a demented toddler with the mentality
of a spoiled two year old?

[Irish_Dem]

52. A philosopher who believed human happiness was the measure of all political goals.

Talking to a man child who believes the opposite.

[Irish_Dem]

24. Here is a recent OP, new DUer who is getting the hang of the correct amount of cynicism.

And I believe is probably quite accurate sad to say.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=20712007

[ananda]

27. Well, that is certainly dark all right.

To me, that goes way beyond cynicism...
looking down the rabbit hole of depraved insanity
where we may now be living.

I still think often of that great film Marat/Sade.

This asylum we call America seems like a meta
version of that play.

[Irish_Dem]

30. I have gotten close to this scenario as a strong probability.

But missed the AI live forever part of it.

But it is not far fetched. Musk has talked about moving mankind to Mars.
So human DNA can live forever. And his techie pals would be the ones going.
Not us peasants.

And the billionaires are not deliberately destroying the US and the planet
without a Plan B. We know they are building their hideaways and safe spots.
And yes they are bored, they have everything. What is next?
Immortality.

The theory has legs.

Yes the combination of the darkest evil and most insane insanity is right before us.

[ananda]

33. I knew that humanity was descending into mental..

and physical chaos, but I didn't realize it had gone this
far already.

Have you watched any of the Dennis Potter TV dramas
from the 80' and 90"s.

I would add them to your watch list.. probably the
greatest TV ever produced. It even brought out great
acting in normally mediocre eye candy like Joanne
Whalley.

Anyhow, one of them, starring the very great Albert
Finney, is called Cold Lazarus. I won't spoil it for
you, but you'll see the connection immediately.

I started with The Singing Detective, starring the
also great Michael Gambon and Patrick Malahide.

All of Potter's shows represent the greatest TV ever
made.

[Irish_Dem]

50. I don't think I have seen any of Potter's work.

I am surprised because I am a huge fan of all British TV productions.
But in the 80's I was working full time and going to graduate school full time
so I missed a lot of pop culture and TV shows. 90s were also a whirl.

I will put them on my winter watch list.

Thanks.

I don't know how far things have gone.
But we are all quite distressed for a reason.
And we know behind the scenes is worse.

[ananda]

58. I didn't actually discover Potter till mid nineties or a bit later.

A friend of mine recommended him, and boy did I get
hooked... just the way I did after another friend recommended
Tarkovsky early in this century.

You won't be disappointed, believe me.

Potter can be dark though, but his stuff is just so
high chakra... it brings the best out of everyone
in every production.

[Irish_Dem]

59. The Brits can be quite dark in their sophisticated and dry humor way.

And they are not simplistic, but complex, perfectly acted drama.

It is hard to go back to American literature and TV after getting hooked
on the British stuff.

Thanks, I put it on my watch list.

[ananda]

63. I know exactly what you mean.

I think drama is England's native high chakra energy.

For France, it's art and architecture; though I must say
their TV has shown greatness too.

All those Walter Presents shows on PBS (Prime) are all
very very good, particularly Astrid.

For Russia it's Just about everything: dance, literature,
and film for sure.

It amazes me how a country that never really made the
transition to a freer, more enlightened form of government
could produce such great art. But there it is.

[Irish_Dem]

65. Yes it is interesting how each culture evolves and excels artistically.

The English are the ultimate wordsmiths and dramatic artists.
Their food is not worth a darn, but just across the channel you have
some of the world's best cuisine. Yes and art, etc.

Yes Russians are such an artistic people, but their art is always suppressed.
Perhaps there is a relationship between artistic expression, suffering and repression.

Some of the 60's greatest music in the US was about youth rebelling and wanting a better world.

[IcyPeas]

61. Thank you! These are all available on youtube...

First episode......

[ananda]

62. I didn't know that. I got them all on DVD with Commentary.

I hope the youtube version has the Commentary too.
It should be there somewhere, I should think.

[IcyPeas]

67. I looked at the ending of a couple of episodes... i didnt see any commentary unfortunately

Karaoke is also on youtube which seems to be related... a prequel? One is set in present times and the other in the future.

There's a ton of his stuff on youtube. Thanks for recommending him.

He hated Rupert Murdoch. From his Wikipedia page:

Using a morphine and champagne cocktail as pain relief, and chain smoking, he revealed that he had named his cancer "Rupert", after Rupert Murdoch, who Potter said represented so much of what he found despicable about the mass media in Britain.[33] He described his work and his determination to continue writing until his death. Telling Bragg that he had two works he intended to finish, he proposed that these works, Karaoke and Cold Lazarus, should be made with the rival BBC and Channel 4 working in collaboration, a suggestion which was accepted.[21]

[ananda]

68. Yes, you should watch Karaoke first.

Thanks for noticing that.

Also, I'd love to hear what you guys think of all this.

[Locutusofborg]

54. The Nobel Prize Committe

Is composed of FIVE people. Blaming the entire nation of Norway for the actions of five people (and we don't know if the vote was 3 to 2 or 4 to 1) is just plain silly.

[FBaggins]

45. I get the cynicism... but that doesn't really make sense

Maduro is a close Putin ally. Why would the opposition that has to be in hiding from his regime also be a friend of Putin?

[Irish_Dem]

48. Why would Norway who is an enemy of Putin, give an award to a woman who is a friend to Trump?

Trump who is an ally of Putin.

[FBaggins]

57. Maybe for her outstanding contribution toward peace and human rights?

Not everything is a conspiracy

[GreenWave]

35. Yes!

[Irish_Dem]

44. Too bad, what a mistake.

[ananda]

69. Too kind...

I call it an idiotic disaster,
and that feels too kind.

[Irish_Dem]

72. Maybe I am becoming numb to yet another tragic farce in the unfolding daily horror show.

[ananda]

73. Maybe, but I kinda doubt it.

All this just wears down your thought process sometimes.

It sure does mine. It's just constant daily shock and awe.

[IbogaProject]

3. I smelled this when I saw it announced and hadn't had time to dig into it

The West and especially American Oil want to get back into Venezuela so bad. Chavez partnered with Castro to fund an innovative medical school focusing on students of color to put doctors into underserved communities around the world.

[BlueKota]

4. WTF?

[Celerity]

15. She is a RWer. Big privatization advocate. Bush loved her. DU has posts on her long before all this.

No shock at all she is sucking up to Trumpy.

He has praised her before.

[BlueKota]

36. Thank you.

I wasn't aware of that.

[AloeVera]

64. Yes. She's a wolf in sheep's clothing. I despair at this choice by Nobel.

She's a right-wing ideologue akin to maga who wants to sell off Venezuela to the highest bidder aka the US. She actually advocated for the extreme sanctions that have caused so much suffering for ordinary Venezuelans. She is probably rooting for a US invasion and regime change too, she has advocated for it. She is not for "the people"as she claims, nor for "peace", that's for sure.

[FormerOstrich]

5. How do you conquer freedom?

The definition of conquer:

overcome and take control of (a place or people) by use of military force.

It probably is accurate to say that some want to take control of freedom by use of military force so they can contain it....even though I don't think that is what she intended to say.

[Igel]

55. Because she's not a native speaker of English.

Below there's something from her feed, "La libertad se conquista cada dia."

Yes, "Liberty's conquered each day." But it rings false, that translation.

Helpful bilingual dictionary with examples?

"Desde los inicios, nuestra visión ha sido conquistar la excelencia." From the start, our vision has been to achieve/*conquer excellence. (* means 'wrong word choice').

"El chef se propuso conquistar a los comensales con sus platos innovadores y sabrosos." The chef proposed winning over the diners with innovative and delicious dishes. (No, the actual plates weren't going to be delicious, so sometimes it's obvious you have to sort through the possible bad interpretations to get to one that's reasonable.)

And in English, as in Spanish, you can conquer/conquistar a heart/corazon--which by no means entails seizing and occupying it by military force.

Her English was a bit too derivative of her Spanish, which isn't uncommon. (It's why I've always thought translating into your 2nd or 3rd language is a bad idea if there's any other option.)

[FormerOstrich]

70. Thank you for

the explanation....I feel sort of like a heel that I didn't take the language translations into consideration. I should have known....

thanks!

[Bluestocking]

7. Perhaps she was not the best choice

Does not sound very peaceful

[newdeal2]

9. She supports Trump's illegal bombings of her country

WTF was this decision based on?

[Hekate]

10. Perhaps This Is A Fake

[WhiskeyGrinder]

11. a fake what?

[Hekate]

12. Someone pretending to be the Nobel Peace Prize laureate

[Celerity]

22. unless her account was hacked (very doubtful and she is a RWer herself, see post 15) it is not a fake

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220711892#post15

[Shrek]

26. Not likely

See here:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3545144

[Cha]

41. Yeah, Cirsium knows a lot about

the "peace" prize winner.. smh on that.

TY

[Shrek]

13. Some of the replies aren't too happy

I didn’t believe this was real. I thought it was fake news. I’ve gone from wholeheartedly applauding you to actually disliking you. You’ve dedicated your prize to a wannabe dictator. The exact opposite of what you said you stood for.

I actually feel I’ve been conned.

Link to tweet

[Cha]

42. TY.. and now I'm wondering about the

"peace" prize committee?/

[leftstreet]

39. Neither was Kissinger n/t

[DFW]

8. Odd choice of words

Chávez, Maduro and their socialists already DID conquer freedom in Venezeula.

How about trying to win it back, instead?

[Lovie777]

14. I read she was in hiding..........................

[a kennedy]

16. Well this is just fawking great.

Fawk her. 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬

[chowder66]

17. Welp, the Nobel Committee sure missed this article

The timing was meaningful. Hours after the Trump administration rescinded the oil license that allowed Chevron to operate in Venezuela, Donald Trump Jr released an episode of his podcast, Triggered, with María Corina Machado as its guest. Don Jr presented Machado’s story of persecution under the chavista regimes as a more acute version of what Trump suffered under Biden, according to himself, and labeled her a guardian of Western civilization like Trump, Milei, Meloni and Bukele. María Corina started by defining the Maduro regime as a gang linked with enemies of the U.S., such as Hezbollah and Iran (she did not mention Russia), the “criminal hub of the Americas,” “a safe haven for all the enemies of Western democracies,” “a true threat for the safety and prosperity of the United States.”

She went on to assure that all the income the State gets from “very obscure oil licenses” goes to propaganda and repression, that thousands of Venezuelan passports were delivered to Islamic terrorists, and that Cartel de los Soles is linked to Tren de Aragua. María Corina said that Maduro is the head of Tren de Aragua, and that he promoted the migration of honest, good people to “destabilize the region.”

When Don Jr asked her whether Maduro opened the prisons to invade the U.S. with criminals, Machado answered tangentially. She repeated that Tren de Aragua has operations in several countries, including the U.S., that it funds the government, and added that Diosdado Cabello “received Tren de Aragua members like heroes,” referring to the Venezuelans deported by the Trump government (it’s unknown if they belonged to the gang) after the visit of special envoy Richard Grenell. Don Jr said that he has met Venezuelans in Florida who escaped from Maduro, and that it was Biden who allowed illegal and dangerous Venezuelans to enter the country. Machado said that “most of the Venezuelans abroad are good people”—and Don Jr agreed, aware that many of them voted for his father, after which Machado agreed that Biden’s was a weak government that allowed Maduro to survive.

While Don Jr kept turning the conversation back to criticizing Biden and celebrating his father, Maria Corina was attempting to present him the wildly optimistic pitch that Venezuela just needs decisive, urgent help from the U.S. to end, “peacefully,” the rule of Maduro, for the benefit of both Americans and Venezuelans. She deliberately omitted mentioning Russia as a backer and insisted that the military is against Maduro, but under surveillance by Chinese technology.

A lot more.....
https://www.caracaschronicles.com/2025/03/16/the-making-of-maria-corina-machado/

[hamsterjill]

28. Well, damn it. There goes another ass kisser.

I'm SO sick of people kissing his fucking ass.

[B.See]

31. Maybe she can just GIVE her prize

to Trump. Like those two (checks notes) "suckers and losers" who gave away their Purple Hearts to the 5 time DRAFT DODGER.

Hell, maybe Trump MIGHT even stop indiscriminately blowing Venezuelan boats out of the water...

maybe.

[dalton99a]

32. The Nobel Committee fucked up. Machado is a friend of the oligarchs, not of democracy

Oligarchs hate democracy

[Cha]

43. Yeah, Whiplash much...

They sure did... all I'm reading about it.. one Mariia Machado does Not deserve any "peace" prize..

There will be Blowback and the committee needs to explain themselves if they can.

[Justice matters.]

66. Wouldn't be surprised to learn that the Nobel Committee itself is

gaslighting liberals by pretending they don't suck up to billionnaires themselves.

They have to donate a million-dollars worth of their national currency to every winner after all.

Where the f do they get that sheer amount of money to donate from anyway? Norvegean taxpayers??

[mvd]

34. I had no idea about her RW leanings

Makes her fight less strong in my opinion.

[malaise]

37. She can eff off too

That is.all

[snowybirdie]

38. Quick now, no guesses

Who was last years Nobel Peace Prize winner? See how soon you forget. Going to chilland relax, its Friday evening.

[Shrek]

40. It's less about who won and more about who lost

And then she goes and dedicates the award to him.

People are justifiably unhappy.

[Xavier Breath]

53. No kidding we're unhappy.

But I guess the answer is to just shut up already and pickle our livers. We can be such Negative Nancys here, dontcha know.

[edbermac]

49. She supports a rapist?

Somebody should give her a clue.

[Rebl2]

51. Take it

Away from her

[JBTaurus83]

56. A bunch of her cohorts

Went into hiding with the fascist Argentina regime. She is probably no better than the orange slob.

[tavernier]

60. Sometimes you reach inside the cookie jar

and you pick up a cockroach.

[Kid Berwyn]

71. She writes for The Onion.

That’s a hoot!