By Ben Meiselas
I had to pinch myself multiple times this morning to make sure I wasn’t in some bizarre dream. Let me take a moment and break down today’s news — so far.
On Friday morning, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee awarded this year’s prize to María Corina Machado, the courageous Venezuelan opposition leader who has risked her life standing up to Nicolás Maduro’s dictatorship. The committee made clear its reasoning: “Democracy is a precondition for lasting peace.”
That should have been a moment to celebrate courage and democratic values. Instead, Vladimir Putin weighed in, claiming that Trump had been “robbed” and that the Nobel Peace Prize was “rigged.” Trump’s MAGA influencers immediately parroted Putin’s praise. Right-wing operative Benny Johnson posted glowingly that Putin called Trump a “complex problem solver” and “a man who solves crises that will last for decades.”
Trump’s responded with a thank-you message to Putin. Yes, Donald Trump thanked the man currently invading Ukraine for defending him. Maybe that’s one reason Trump didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize? I don’t know, just spitballing here.
But that wasn’t the only jaw-dropping development from Trump’s regime during this government shutdown. Earlier, his so-called Secretary of War (an unlawful title, since the United States has a Secretary of Defense) announced a new partnership. Qatar will be getting its own Air Force base inside the United States.
Let me repeat that. While millions of Americans are facing the loss of health care and troops are going unpaid during the shutdown, Trump’s administration is busy giving a foreign monarchy a military base on U.S. soil. The “Qatari Emiri Air Force Facility” will be located at Mountain Home Air Base in Idaho, hosting Qatari F-15s and pilots.
Imagine the right-wing outrage if President Obama or President Biden had done anything even close to that. Qatar gives Trump a private jet, allows his company to build a $5.5 billion golf club, and Trump gives Qatar a base in America.
Meanwhile, MAGA Republicans are melting down over Trump’s failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Representative Buddy Carter even said Congress should hold an “emergency session” to give Trump their own version of the award—a “congressional Nobel Peace Prize.” This while the government remains shut down and families across the country face economic pain. Excuse my candor, but how freakin’ pathetic!
The Nobel Committee, for its part, was clear. Asked about Trump’s obsession with the prize, the chair responded: “The room where we deliberate is filled with portraits of laureates whose courage and integrity define peace. We base our decisions on work and will, not campaigns.”
And as Republicans descend into chaos, they’ve turned their rage toward peaceful protesters, labeling demonstrations planned for October 18, the “No Kings” protest against Trump’s authoritarian overreach, as “pro-Hamas” or “anti-America.” House Speaker Mike Johnson even called it a “Hate America rally.” These are the same Republicans giving foreign governments military footholds inside our country while attacking Americans for exercising free speech.
To top it off, Trump capped it all off by threatening massive new tariffs on China, causing the stock market to quickly tank.
This is what authoritarian decay looks like in real time, an unhinged leader praising dictators, enriching foreign powers, and punishing his own citizens. But the good news is that the American people are watching, and they’re rejecting this chaos.
As the Nobel Committee reminded us, democracy isn’t just a word. It’s the foundation of peace and the antidote to everything Donald Trump represents. And we will continue to fight for democracy every single day here at MeidasTouch.
