It was never going to be President Donald Trump’s year to win the Nobel Peace Prize. It never should be.

Maria Corina Machado of Venezuela won the Nobel for promoting democracy. The Norwegian Nobel Committee hailed Machado, opposition leader to her country’s dictatorship, for “her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy”.

Illustration: Jozsef Benke Credit:

Machado won the award for her work in bringing democracy to her country on the day when Trump used his Department of Justice to undercut democracy in his country. Trump exacted retribution against another of his political enemies, New York state attorney-general Letitia James, who launched the lawsuit that led to Trump’s conviction for business fraud. Trump wants the department to prosecute and jail her and James Comey, former director of the FBI, and several others for their disloyalty to him.

Machado and Trump are both focused on pressuring the same dictator, Nicolas Maduro, but in profoundly different ways. While Machado spurs a political campaign to bring democracy to her fellow citizens, Trump gives explicit approval for extra-judicial execution of alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers on their boats in the Caribbean.

Machado’s Nobel award seized headlines around the world. Trump’s targeted prosecution of the New York attorney-general, his renewed trade war with China and the wholesale firing of government workers eclipsed US headlines of his success in........

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