How To Debase Yourself To Appease The RightNewsom, FIFA, Nobel commitee find out the hard way you can’t win against rightwing grifters..
First there was Gavin Newsom. He may have just destroyed his presidential prospects by inexplicably inviting Ben Shapiro onto his podcast. He probably thought bringing the incurious, intellectually dishonest rightwing agitator and hasbara operative onto his show would win over those who view him as too leftist to be president. Instead, Shapiro humiliated the California governor in the eyes of his base by allowing himself to be cornered into backing ICE and downplaying Israel’s atrocities, neither of which will endear him to Democratic Party primary voters in 2028. But Newsom wasn’t the only self-one in recent days to be cut down by their own hubris and ambition. Share There was also FIFA chief Gianni Infantino. A craven sycophant to the powerful, he was already considered a major corrupting influence on professional soccer. Last month he handed President Donald Trump a newly created FIFA peace prize in hopes of cozying up to the White House (and perhaps securing some future business deals) ahead of the 2026 World Cup in North America. But less than a month after handing Trump the made-up prize for contributions to peace, Trump went on a global rampage. He abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a brazen act of war. He began menacing Iran with a possible bombing campaign. He is also threatening an anschluss of Greenland, which is a territory of Denmark. Infantino’s naivete now seems downright infantile. He looks like a moron and sucker. And senior officials in the world soccer federation are grumbling about how he tarnished the brand—making it the butt of late-night television show jokes--ahead of the quadrennial games. But the award for sucker of the week goes to the Nobel prize committee. They thought they could navigate Trump’s tricky public demands for the prestigious peace prize by handing it to an administration acolyte, Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader and alleged CIA asset who has advocated sanctions and war to unseat Caracas’ leftwing government. If the Nobel prize honchos in Norway figured giving the prize to one of Trumpworld’s toadies would placate the White House, they were wrong. He was so pissed off about not getting the award that it contributed to his decision not only to meet or even involve Machado in his machinations before and after he snatched Maduro and his wife. Being snubbed for the award was also one of the reasons that Trump said in a letter to Norway that he is threatening Greenland with war. “Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,” Trump wrote, ignoring the fact that the government in Oslo has zero role in the administration of the Nobel prize or Greenland .Further devaluing the prize, Machado ultimately handed it over to Trump in a desperate attempt to get back into the White House’s good graces. This prompted the Nobel committee to object. “One of the core missions of the Nobel Foundation is to safeguard the dignity of the Nobel Prizes and their administration,” the organization said, insisting that the awards cannot “even symbolically, be passed on or further distributed.” The Nobel committee gave the peace prize to someone who thinks so little of her own legacy and humanity’s wellbeing that she used a peace prize as a bribe to solicit a regime change war. The Nobel committee has no one to blame for debasing the peace prize but itself. It could have honored any of 244 individuals and 94 organizations nominated for the award last year. But it managed to choose a person who thinks so little of her own legacy and humanity’s well-being that she used a peace prize as a bribe to solicit a regime change war. Newsom, Infantino, and the Nobel committee all found out how difficult it is to come ahead when engaging with the rightwing grifters in our midst. That’s because to get to the top of the heap in that world you have to lobotomize that part of your soul that feels shame and values honor. All three would have fared better if they had kept their distance. The way to come out ahead with these people is to defeat them, not to compromise with them. (Please excuse typos.) Leave a comment © 2026 Borzou Daragahi |