ISIS survivor tells Trump why she won the Nobel Prize — Trump responds: ‘And you won the prize for what reason?’

In a painfully awkward exchange in the Oval Office this Wednesday, a Yazidi woman whose entire family was killed by the Islamic State explained to President Trump the struggles she endured, along with her activism that led to her becoming a Nobel Prize laureate, only to have a seemingly distant Trump ask her to tell her the story again.

Nadia Murad was among thousands of Yazidi women and girls abducted by the Islamic State as the group overran huge parts of Iraq in 2014. She and other survivors of religious persecution met with Trump to speak about their causes.

From France 24:

After Murad explained how her mother and six brothers were killed and that 3,000 Yazidis remained missing, Trump said, “And you had the Nobel Prize? That’s incredible. They gave it to you for what reason?”

With little pause, Murad, who was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year, repeated her story.

“After all this happened to me, I didn’t give up. I make it clear to everyone that ISIS raped thousands of Yazidi women,” she said, referring to the Islamic State group.

“Please do something. It’s not about one family,” she said.

Trump, who has boasted of crushing the self-styled caliphate of the Islamic State group that once stretched across Iraq and Syria, also appeared at a loss when Murad asked him to press the Iraqi and Kurdish governments to create safe conditions for the Yazidis to return.

“But ISIS is gone and now it’s Kurdish and who?” Trump asked, before later telling her, “I know the area very well.”

Trump also had another awkward exchange, this time with a displaced Rohingya man, who asked him if there was a plan to return refugees driven out by the ethnic cleansing campaign in Myanmar to their homeland.

“Where is that, exactly?” Trump responded.

Watch Trump’s exchange with Murad in the video below, via France 24:

Featured image via screen grab

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.