President Donald Trump has a habit of circling back to the same grievance, no matter the setting or the stakes. On Monday, that fixation resurfaced in an unguarded moment that was never meant to be public — and it caught him at exactly the wrong time.
The fixation centers on the Nobel Peace Prize, an honor Trump has repeatedly suggested he deserves for what he claims were breakthroughs in multiple global conflicts — praise that never came. The complaint has followed him across speeches, interviews, and offhand remarks, resurfacing whenever he drifts into what aides often frame as informal asides.
The slip unfolded Monday, Dec. 29, at Mar-a-Lago during a lunch meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As reporters lingered, a live mic remained open, catching Trump speaking freely just moments before he appeared to realize the cameras and the press were still there.
As the clip opens in a room filled with cabinet officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Trump can be seen speaking, though no audio is heard at first.
Seconds later it cuts into Trump appearing to brag about his strategy for stopping one of the many wars, “Two both of them, I said we’re gonna cut you off, no more trade. Then I put 200% tarrifs on … the next day they call.”
Trump continued griping as his guest shift in their seats and look about the room. “Thirty-five years of fighting and they …ah … stop. Do I get credit for it? No”
Netanyahu mumbles something out of frame but that works Trump up even more as he raise his voice, “India, how about India and Pakistan and then so I did eight of them and then I’ll tell you the rest of it.”
At that moment, Trump seems to realize he’s not alone and the press hasn’t left the room. He turns to face them as others, especially Kushner looks on with a shocked face, “How are you doing? Ok? You gonna walk me outside? The beautiful sun … enjoy your lunch … it’s a very good group,” he rambled.
The moment was perfect fodder for online critics.
View on Threads
“What the f is he babbling about? They all have that look on their faces. ‘Wtf is he babbling about’” social media user Karen Demarini proclaimed on Threads
“It looks like they are all doing what they can to not burst out laughing,” a Threads user observed.
Another noted, “That ‘oh sh-t, are they still here?’ look.”
“It’s getting embarrassing,” another person commented.
Trump’s exaggerated claims about solving eight global conflicts even includes a war that never was.
Here’s a quick fact check on his claims. Trump did broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after several years of fighting, but the Associated Press reports the truce is on shaky ground as Israel continues attacks on Gaza.
Trump also ended a 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June, but critics also say he gave the greenlight to Israel to attack Tehran to begin with and that Israel stopped when Trump told it to.
He claims he ended fighting between Egypt and Ethiopia over a dam on the Nile River, but the two were never at war and the U.S. had nothing to do with easing tensions there.
Trump claims he brokered a peace deal between India and Pakistan through tariffs, which he alluded to in the meeting with Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago, but India has denied Trump was involved in settling the dispute.
The President claims he settled a war between Serbia and Kosovo, but there’s been no war between the neighboring nations during Trump’s second term.
He also claims he’s settled the conflict between Rwanda and Congo, but he fighting rages on there.
Trump has also bragged about settling the long running conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but a peace deal signed by the foreign ministers at the White House last summer have not been signed by leaders or ratified by parliaments, according to the AP.
Cambodia and Thailand both say Trump helped with a ceasefire between the two rivals, but fighting has resumed in recent weeks.
Trump spent months since taking office again in January campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize and even said it would be an insult to the United States not to give it to him, but the Nobel Committee had other ideas.
It awarded Venezuelan democracy activist Mária Corina Machado the coveted prize in October “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
The opposition leader is still in hiding after vigorously promoting democratic rights and fighting the authoritarian regime in Venezuela for freedom. She also won the opposition primary in 2024.
