Trump Declares Himself a Nobel Prize Winner for Work He Didn’t Do
On Oct. 30, the president took to his Truth Social platform to focus on the Nobel Prize in Physics by claiming victory in the category that three physicists won.
President Donald Trump is taking credit for winning a Nobel Prize presented to three other people.
Trump, 79, has been consumed with the idea that the Nobel Foundation should award him the prestigious honor. He has particularly been obsessed with the Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump appeared to cite Chris Wright, the 60-year-old former Liberty Energy CEO who currently serves as the U. S. Secretary of Energy, in the social media post.
“Chris Wright: ‘A former Lawrence Berkeley National Lab scientist won the Nobel Prize in physics for work in Quantum physics,’” Trump wrote on Wednesday afternoon.
The billionaire businessman resumed, “‘Quantum computing, along with AI and Fusion, are the three signature Trump science efforts. Trump 47 racks up his first Nobel Prize!’”
Obviously, Trump was not named a 2025 Nobel laureate. British scientist John Clarke was actually among the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics this year.
Clarke, 83, is a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. The University of Cambridge alumnus also worked with the Department of Energy’s Berkeley Lab.
French-American Michel Devoret, 72, and American John Martinis, 67, of the University of California, Santa Barbara, were Clarke’s co-recipients of the physics Nobel.
Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis conducted a series of experiments on superconductors in 1984 and 1985 that revolutionized quantum mechanics.
“This year’s Nobel Prize laureates conducted experiments with an electrical circuit in which they demonstrated both quantum mechanical tunnelling and quantised energy levels in a system big enough to be held in the hand,” read a statement on the Nobel Prize website.
Trump, seemingly trying to steal the scientists’ thunder, elicited a response from Martinis. The California-raised professor shouted out a previous president while also giving a hat tip to the current White House resident.
“This work was done in 1985, so I suppose you should credit another Republican, Ronald Reagan,” Martinis told the Daily Beast. “However, Trump has emphasized quantum computing is a priority for his administration, and I think everyone appreciates his support of this technology.”
Additionally, internet users had plenty to say about Trump’s peculiar Truth Social message about the Nobel Prize. Yahoo commenters did not hold back when sharing their thoughts on the president’s latest self-created ego boost.
“Outrageous and frightening to think that he had his hands on the nuclear codes. If ever was the need for the 25th Amendment, it is now,” one alarmist vented, suggesting Trump should be removed from office for supposedly not being able to properly perform his duties as president.
A second comment stated, “If there would ever be a Nobel Prize for lunacy and dementia, Trump would win hands down.” A third put forth, “To win any prize, you actually have to do something that’s worthwhile. We’re still waiting.”
Someone else posted, “Trump not only embarrasses himself every day he embarrasses America and all patriotic Americans.”A similar response asserted, “This is our president. So ashamed.”
“We just need to give him some gold-plated plastic trophy, tell him he’s the greatest just to shut him up. Like a pacifier for a baby,” suggested a Trump critic, comparing the U.S. commander-in-chief to a newborn child.
As a real estate magnate-turned-politician, Trump has embraced taking credit for other people’s work throughout his headline-grabbing business and political careers.
In particular, the former “The Apprentice” reality television show host tends to insist he created certain English words and phrases that were already in regular use.
“Basically, what we’re doing is equalizing. There’s a new word that I came up with, which is probably the best word,” Trump claimed during a May 2025 speech about lowering drug prices for Americans.
Many observers believe that Trump’s obsession with the Nobel Prize stems from former President Barack Obama, 64, becoming a Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2009 for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
“He got the Nobel Prize. He didn’t even know what the hell he got it for. Remember, he got elected,” Trump complained about Obama at a 2024 presidential campaign rally.
The “Art of the Deal” author went to add, “Well, so did I. He got elected, and they announced he was getting the Nobel Prize. He got the Nobel Prize for doing nothing, for getting elected, but I got elected too.”
