US President Donald Trump’s video has gone viral online where he appeared to forget the name Maria Corina Machado, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who had personally handed him her medal. The incident has sharp reactions across social media.
The video has been widely shared on X, which shows Trump talking about the moment but never once mentioning the name of Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.
The moment happened after Machado visited the White House on January 15, where she presented Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize medal as a symbolic gesture. While the medal was physically handed over, it’s important to note that Trump is not a Nobel laureate. The Nobel Committee later clarified that even if a winner gives away the medal, the award and recognition remain permanently with the original laureate.
What really caught people’s attention was Trump’s response afterward. In the viral video, he said, “I had a great meeting by a person who I have a lot of respect for. She has respect, obviously, for me and our country. And she gave me her Nobel Prize… And I was very, very impressed. This is a fine woman.”
Trump: “I had a great meeting by a person who I have a lot of respect for. She has respect obviously for me and our country. And she gave me her Nobel Prize, but I’ll tell you what — I got to know her. I never met her before. And I was very very impressed. This is a fine woman.” pic.twitter.com/OS0nkFPwpD
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 16, 2026
The social media noticed that Trump did not take Machado’s name and reacted sharply
One of the users, who commented on the original video shared by Aaron Rupar said that, “That lady gave trump her Nobel Peace Prize and hours later trump doesn’t even remember her name.” That line quickly went viral, with users piling on jokes, memes and sarcastic comments questioning how someone could forget the name of a Nobel winner they had just met.
Many users commented on the viral clip, one user said that, “He FORGOT HER NAME already???” Another user who defended Trump said that, “President Trump has made more peace than any POTUS in history. For Democrats to deny him praise for that is disgraceful.” One user questioned that, “What Is Her Name?”
Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for democracy in Venezuela, had earlier dedicated the award to the “suffering people of Venezuela” and to Trump, whom she praised for supporting democratic values. Trump said that the gesture as a “wonderful gesture of mutual respect” and publicly thanked her though the viral video made that thanks look very awkward.
The Nobel Committee has said that “Regardless of what may happen to the medal, the diploma, or the prize money, it is and remains the original laureate who is recorded in history as the recipient of the prize.”
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