Got it for doing nothing’: Donald Trump criticises Obama hours before Nobel Peace Prize announcement

Hours before the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize announcement, US President Donald Trump took a dig at his predecessor Barack Obama’s 2009 Nobel win, saying he received it for “doing nothing” and “destroying the country.”Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump questioned the legitimacy of Obama’s Nobel win, stating, “He got it for doing nothing. Obama got a prize – he didn’t even know what – he got elected, and they gave it to Obama for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country.”

He further accused him of not being a good President. “How many months after he won the election, then they gave him Peace President,” he stated.

Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, barely eight months after taking office, for what the committee described as his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

“… Obama was not a good president.” – Trump

He is the root of the evil we are seeing today! pic.twitter.com/IFUjxtRxaU— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) October 9, 2025

Speaking at the United Nations last month, Trump praised his own foreign policy, claimed to have ended seven “un-endable” wars, and nominated himself for the Nobel Peace Prize.

“I’ve stopped eight wars, so that’s never happened before – but they’ll have to do what they do. Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that, I did it because I saved a lot of lives,” he added.

Geir Lundestad, the former secretary of the Nobel Committee, later stated that giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama didn’t have the effect the committee wanted, according to the BBC.

When Obama got the prize, he had just become president. The committee hoped the award would encourage him and strengthen his efforts to promote peace around the world, he said.

But according to Lundestad, that plan didn’t work out, and even many of Obama’s own supporters thought it was too early for him to receive such a big award since he hadn’t yet achieved major results.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize but the process is biased against him.

During a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in February, he said, “They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize. It’s too bad. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.”

Later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces accusations at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over Israel’s actions in Gaza, backed him by nominating him for the prize, according to USA Today.

The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced at 2:30 pm IST Friday, October 10, in Oslo, Norway.