 "A widely shared post falsely claimed that US President Donald Trump had been “permanently disqualified from future awards” by the Nobel Prize committee. Reuters File")
A viral rumour has been making the rounds online claiming that US President Donald Trump has been permanently barred from ever winning a Nobel Peace Prize.
The buzz started after an image circulated that looked like a genuine Associated Press release, dated September 25, 2025, making it seem official.
But the truth is very different. Trump remains fully eligible for the prestigious award, which he has publicly been seeking for months.
Here’s the full story behind the hoax and what really matters.
What did the viral post say?
A widely shared post falsely claimed that Donald Trump had been “permanently disqualified from future awards” by the Nobel Prize committee.
According to the supposed press release, the reasons were his “controversial comments in his UN speech on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025,” and his decision to rename the US Department of Defense as the “Department of War.”
The fake announcement even included contact details for a mysterious “Hans Zeemer” at “swisstimes.org” and carried the dramatic headline, “NPC BARRS TRUMP ACCOLADE.”
The text read: “STOCKHOLM (AP) — In an unprecedented move that has world leaders praising the prestigious organization, the Nobel Prize committee announced today that Donald J Trump is permanently disqualified from future awards after his controversial comments in his UN speech on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025 as well as his decision to rename the US Department of Defense as the ‘Department of War,’ which the committee deemed a ‘grave breach of historical gravitas and semantic decorum.’”
It went on to say: “The committee’s terse statement, issued under embargo until now, asserted that ‘the integrity of the Nobel tradition cannot coexist with a willful rebranding of global defense institutions into instruments of infringement,’ and added that even past laurels remain untouched — but ‘moving forward, no Prizes shall be awarded.’ The decision, the committee said, is final.”
Despite the clear red flags in the post, many netizens shared it with excitement, seemingly accepting it as real.
Fact-check on Trump’s disqualification
The supposed AP press release circulating online, claiming Trump was “permanently disqualified,” is entirely false.
Though it mimicked the style of a legitimate AP wire, several details immediately gave it away.
First, the real AP alerts avoid editorialised language and wouldn’t include random contact emails like “Hans Zeemer” at a suspicious domain such as swisstimes.org.
More importantly, the Nobel Prize committee does not work in that manner. Nominations for the Nobel Prizes are submitted by eligible nominators, and winners are selected by the specific Nobel bodies, for example, the Norwegian Nobel Committee handles the Peace Prize, while the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences oversees Physics and Chemistry.
The Peace Prize process is highly confidential, and the committees rarely comment on specific nominees until the official announcement is made. None of the committees have the authority or practice of enforcing “permanent disqualifications.”
Notably, no credible news outlet reported or confirmed the claim, making it clear that the viral post is purely a fabrication.
Also read: It’s Nobel Week: How are winners selected?
Can Trump win a Nobel?
Experts say it’s highly unlikely that Donald Trump will ever receive the Nobel Peace Prize, despite his repeated efforts to position himself as a contender.
“He has no chance to get the Peace Prize at all,” said Asle Sveen, a historian of the award, citing Trump’s support for Israel in the war in Gaza and his attempts at rapprochement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, among the reasons.
Alfred Nobel’s will, the award’s foundation, says the award should go to the person “who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations”. This year’s winners will be announced on October 10.
That is something Trump is not doing, according to Nina Graeger, director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo.
“He has withdrawn the US from the World Health Organisation and from the Paris Accord on climate, he has initiated a trade war on old friends and allies,” she told Reuters. “That is not exactly what we think about when we think about a peaceful president or someone who really is interested in promoting peace.”
Trump, however, has actively lobbied for the prize himself. During a recent UN General Assembly address , he claimed he deserved the award for “ending seven wars,” including conflicts between India and Pakistan.
“We are forging peace agreements, and we are stopping wars. So we stopped wars between India and Pakistan, Thailand and Cambodia,” he said. “Think of India and Pakistan. Think of that. And you know how I stopped that — with trade. They want to trade. And I have great respect for both leaders. But when you take a look at all of these wars that we’ve stopped.”
Yet Nobel experts caution that such lobbying often backfires.
Asle Toje, deputy leader of the current Norwegian Nobel Committee, explained, “These types of influence campaigns have a rather more negative effect than a positive one. Because we talk about it on the committee. Some candidates push for it really hard, and we do not like it.”
He emphasised that the committee operates in a closed, deliberative environment where outside influence is unwelcome.
Joergen Watne Frydnes, the committee’s current leader, added that public attention doesn’t affect the decision-making process.
“All politicians want to win the Nobel Peace Prize,” he told Reuters. “We hope the ideals underpinned by the Nobel Peace Prize are something that all political leaders should strive for … We notice the attention, both in the United States and around the world, but outside from that, we work just the same way as we always do.”
In short, while Trump continues to push his case, experts say his record, policies, and the very act of lobbying for the award make his chances of ever winning highly improbable.
With input from agencies