18 January—So Trump Tyrannus finally has a Nobel Peace Prize. The solid gold medal, anyway, thanks to what can only be the political and diplomatic aspirations of its real winner, María Machado. And Sra. Machado’s strategic generosity didn’t go unappreciated by Trump, at least perfunctorily and superficially: “I had a great meeting yesterday by a person who I have a lot of respect for—and she has respect, obviously, for me and our country—and she gave me her Nobel Prize. . . . She’s a really—this is a fine woman.”

Sra. Machado should be making the most of questionable glory of Trump’s compliment. Because that’s likely all she’s going to get from him: some nice words, with surprisingly few about himself thrown in.

As for the real Nobel Peace Prize, Trump can forget about it. His intensive lobbying effort, well-publicized nomination by domestic and international flunkies, shameless hyperbolic and mendacious self-praise, as well as the not-inconceivable threat (given Trump’s bellicosity, instability, and threats to invade Greenland) of U.S. invasion of Norway if he doesn’t get it certainly can’t rub the Nobel Committee the right way.

Simply put, then, Trump won’t ever get the Nobel Peace Prize—unless he cleans up his act and really deserves it. Both are highly unlikely.

Shortly after Sra. Machado’s gift made the headlines, in fact, the Nobel Committee made it clear that while it has no control over what Nobel laureates do with their prizes, “the medal and the diploma are [just] the physical symbols confirming that an individual or organization has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize itself—the honor and recognition—remains inseparably linked to the person or organization designated as the laureate by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot.” The statement didn’t mention the cash.

Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, a Norwegian politician who supports protectionism and tariffs, put it succinctly and perceptively: “Whoever has received the prize has received the prize. The fact that Trump accepted the medal says something about him as a type of person: a classic showoff who wants to adorn himself with other people’s honors and work.”

Raymond Johansen, a former mayor of Oslo, was equally frank: “This is unbelievably embarrassing and damaging to one of the world’s most recognized and important prizes. The awarding of the prize is now so politicized and potentially dangerous that it could easily legitimize an anti-peace prize development. I can’t believe she actually gave the prize to Trump. What on earth is the Nobel committee going to say?”