U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday, Oct. 21, at a South Carolina rally that his writing merited a Pulitzer Prize, pairing the claim with criticism of reporting on Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Trump linked his Pulitzer remark to his complaint about not receiving the Nobel Peace Prize: “I didn’t get the Nobel Prize,” he said.
Trump also challenged reporting by journalists recognized for coverage of the Russia investigation. “They had it wrong. They all had it wrong,” he said at the rally for Sen. Darline Graham.
The remarks gave no title or category, and did not say whether he meant journalism, a book or another form of writing.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee named Navanethem “Navi” Pillay the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize laureate on Oct. 9. It said Pillay’s work promoting peace and international law led to the honor.
The 2018 Pulitzer for National Reporting went jointly to the staffs of The New York Times and The Washington Post. The award recognized coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 election and links to Trump’s campaign, transition and administration.
In a 2022 statement, the Pulitzer Prize Board said two independent reviews found that later facts had discredited neither winning passages nor headlines, following inquiries it had received over the preceding three years, including one from Trump. It left the awards in place.
The Pulitzer program separates journalism and book awards, with categories including Feature Writing, Opinion Writing, Fiction, Memoir or Autobiography and General Nonfiction. The phrase “for writing” therefore does not indicate which award Trump believed he should have received.
Penguin Random House lists Trump: The Art of the Deal as a book by Trump and Tony Schwartz, with its hardcover first published on Nov. 12, 1987. Trump did not specify whether that work was behind his claim.
The Pulitzer organization announces 23 awards each spring as part of its annual prize cycle.
