President Donald Trump joked that he once wanted to award himself the Medal of Honor, recalling a surprise trip he made to visit U.S. troops in Iraq.
Speaking in Rome, Georgia, on Thursday, Feb. 19, Trump revisited his December 2018 visit to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq’s Anbar province.
“I decided to go to Iraq. I was extremely brave. So brave in fact that I wanted to give myself the Congressional Medal of Honor,” he said, according to video of the remarks. He added that he asked aides whether he was allowed to award it to himself.
Trump then acknowledged that the medal is typically associated with extraordinary acts of valor by service members.
“It has been given to so many guys that are seriously brave,” he said, describing recipients who were gravely wounded. “Their stories are so unbelievable. And I said that’s a little stretch if I gave myself one.”
He continued the joke by suggesting he might try to “test the law” someday, adding that he was “having fun,” and predicting media criticism.
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What the Medal of Honor is
The Medal of Honor—often informally called the “Congressional Medal of Honor”—is the United States’ highest military decoration for valor in combat and is awarded to U.S. service members for conspicuous gallantry above and beyond the call of duty.
Trump and the Nobel Peace Prize
Trump also referenced his recent public comments about the Nobel Peace Prize. The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, and the Nobel organization has emphasized that the official laureate remains the person originally awarded the prize, regardless of who may later possess the physical medal.
