Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado told reporters she presented the medal for her Nobel Peace Prize to President Donald Trump at a private White House meeting on Thursday, but did not say if he accepted it.

“I think today is a historic day for us Venezuelans,” she said after the meeting with Trump, the first time the two have met in-person.

      • butwhyishischinabook@piefed.social
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        2 days ago

        Don’t be campist. Kissinger was obviously worlds worse, but Obama killed an insane amount of civilians with drones and claimed that because they were military aged males they were actually combatants. He double tapped to kill first responders and assassinated a US citizen with a drone strike and no due process. Just because the Republicans are far more evil doesn’t make Obama’s rampant war crimes any less awful.

      • Zorque@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Hey, there’s multiple options. They could be a “stay at home and not bother” voter instead. They are the largest electoral demographic in the US after all.

    • MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world
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      3 days ago

      Yes…”before” is a pretty important qualifier.

      The Obama prize can be viewed as an aspirational prize: rewarding rhetoric that was a drastic change from the typical US hawkish rhetoric and policy that had been increasing since Reagan. They ultimately got it wrong…very very wrong…but at least it was based on something.

      Kissinger, on the other hand, was tantamount to a war criminal and everybody knew it.

      Giving it to Machado just tells us that the prize is fully corrupted, considering her violent rhetoric. Not just that - but the notion that she was promoting democracy is laughable, given her statements about installing a regime that would be resistant or immune to leftist political victories.

      • Boiglenoight@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        If I recall correctly, it was awarded before he actually did anything. It felt like wishful thinking, and then he proceeded to authorize strikes somewhere.

        • MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world
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          2 days ago

          Yeah…it was based mostly on rhetoric but also early policy…which isn’t nothing. Close to…but still. He did things like sign an executive order to close Guantanamo and laid out a plan to stop the Iraq war. We know what actually happened…but we also know that it wasn’t solely his decision to reneg.

          It made sense because of how hawkish everything had been up until then. There wasn’t a sense that he’d essentially become a lame duck in the first midterms…and that he’d do so much for the hawks and get nothing in return.

          • Boiglenoight@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            I didn’t have any problems with what Obama did at that time. I just thought it was premature to give him the award. It made it seem meaningless.

            • MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world
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              1 day ago

              Yeah…I agree…but both things are true, IMO. It made sense at the time, and in hindsight it was a mistake.

              Some folks act like he was awarded the prize after the drone strike escalation…which isn’t strictly true.