It’s a Liberal Thing

TRUMP ORDERS STRIKE ON STOCKHOLM AFTER NOBEL SNUB, POINTS TO MAP AS EVIDENCE OF PLANNING

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday ordered the Pentagon to prepare a strike on Stockholm, telling reporters at a White House briefing that the Swedish capital had “rigged the Nobel” against him and would “pay a price, a very big price, believe me.”

Standing beside a map of Scandinavia on which Stockholm had been circled in black marker, the president pointed to the circle as evidence the planning was complete. “See? Stockholm. That’s where they keep it,” he said. “Everybody knows it. The prize, the gold, the whole thing. Not anymore.”

The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway, by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The other Nobel Prizes are presented in Stockholm.

A Pentagon spokesman confirmed that a target package for the Swedish capital was “being developed at the president’s direction” and that planners had been instructed to work from the map as marked. Asked about Oslo, the spokesman said the department does not comment on targets that have not been circled.

According to officials familiar with the briefing materials, Norway appeared on the map with an X drawn through it and was not discussed again.

The operation, which one defense official described as costing “somewhere in the low hundreds of millions, depending on how many medals we have to replace,” would be the first U.S. military action undertaken against a country that does not award the prize in question. Sweden has been a NATO ally since 2024.

Swedish officials responded with a statement noting that Stockholm hosts the Nobel Prize ceremonies for physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and economics, and expressing hope that the president might consider “winning one of those instead.” The statement pointed out that the economics prize involves a check.

At the briefing, the president dismissed the distinction. “Norway, Sweden — it’s all one place, folks, it’s Scandinavia, beautiful place, Vikings, tremendous Vikings,” he said. “They told me, ’Sir, the Peace Prize is in a different country.’ I said, then why is it called the Nobel? Checkmate.”

The Norwegian Nobel Committee had no comment.

Administration officials said the strike, if approved, would be livestreamed, and that discussions were underway with two streaming platforms about exclusive commentary rights for the medal ceremony that follows.

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