General Discussion

But those weren’t his only provocative thoughts on the subject. A day earlier, the Republican sat down with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, and the discussion turned to Machado. Trump said that he’d heard Machado — who’s eager to lead her home country and who’s taken steps to curry favor with the Republican administration — wants to give him the prize, and that it would be “a great honor.”

It was at that point that the officials responsible for the award apparently felt the need to issue a clarification of sorts. The Associated Press reported:

The organization that oversees the Nobel Peace Prize is throwing cold water on talk of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado giving her recent award to President Donald Trump.

Once the Nobel Peace Prize is announced, it can’t be revoked, transferred or shared with others, the Norwegian Nobel Institute said in a short statement on Friday.

“The decision is final and stands for all time,” the institute explained in a written statement.

It was, as best as I can tell, the first time in the 125-year history of the award that the Nobel Prize committee found it necessary to issue such a clarification. It also led The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum to note, summarizing the circumstances, “It’s hard even to comprehend how stupid this has become.”