Since President Donald Trump was unable to bamboozle the Nobel Peace Prize Committee into handing over the prestigious prize to him earlier this year, he’s apparently not done trying and has done the next best thing. He’s taken over the U.S. Institute of Peace and plastered his name over the fro nt of the building. And of course, Trump’s archrival, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, couldn’t resist the opportunity to skewer and mock Trump over the rebranding. U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a meeting of his Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House on December 02, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) The State Department said Wednesday it has renamed the independent, non-partisan think tank, which is funded through Congress, as the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, according to NPR. https://t.co/iPtRwvaih5 pic.twitter.com/LOaUvasa8C— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) December 4, 2025 In a post on X, the agency boasted about the change, calling Trump “the greatest dealmaker in our nation’s history.” Newsom begs to differ and his own hilarious post on X, using an example of the utmost in hypocrisy, shows a meme of the building described as “KFC INSTITUTE FOR VEGANISM.” The post sent social media spiraling with almost 2 million views and more than 4,000 reposts. ‘Orange Goon Is an Embarrassment’: Trump Cracks Tone-Deaf Joke During Ceremony, and African Leader’s Stone-Cold Stare Says It All There were the usual Newsom detractors, like X user Truck, who responded, “Gavin Newsom saw the clip and immediately announced the California Institute for High-Speed Hair Gel Research. Budget: $12 billion. Completion date: never. Top speed: still slower than people fleeing the state.” But many more loved the post writing, “Perfection,” “I had to,” “Epic,” and “Love this.” However, the renaming is the latest bizarre development in a months-long court battle over control of the nonprofit, which was seized early in the Trump administration and dismantled by the Department of Government Efficiency, which begs the question why Trump would even want his name on the building. It seems the renaming occurred on Dec. 3, a day before Trump hosted the leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo for the signing of a peace treaty he claimed to have helped broker in June, even as the fighting between the countries rages on, according to The Associated Press. The peace deal was signed, the second U.S. signing ceremony by Rwanda and Congo, by the way, in front of the Peace Institute the next day with Trump’s moniker boldly outlined above the name of the building leading critics to point out it’s another attempt by Trump to try and force the Nobel Committee to award him the coveted prize. NBC reported the USIP’s “mission is to promote peace internationally and resolve violent conflicts globally,” something Trump has repeatedly claimed he’s done by insisting that he’s settled eight conflicts in his short time back in office. He’s boasted and crowed about it incessantly and demanded that the Nobel Committee award him the Peace Prize honor. He even spent the first months of his second term this year campaigning for the accolade, which was awarded on Oct. 10, and even said in the weeks prior that it would be an insult to the United States not to give it to him, but the Nobel Committee had other ideas. It awarded the prestigious honor to Venezuelan democracy activist and opposition politician, Maria Coria Machado, who is still in hiding in Venezuela after vigorously promoting democratic rights. Machado won the award despite a last-minute push by Trump’s cronies to get the committee to change its mind after Trump helped broker a ceasefire in Gaza. Meanwhile the court battle over the Peace Institute is still raging. After Trump seized the agency and fired all its employees, they sued. A federal judge ruled the takeover was illegal, but NPR reported the ruling was stayed as the administration appeals the decision. Trump’s team has argued that the organization, which was created by Congress and signed into law by former President Ronald Reagan, is under the control of the executive branch of government and that it had the right to close it down. But the nonprofit maintains it is an independent agency that the president has no control over. ‘Epic’: Gavin Newsom Torches Trump in a Post So Bold It Sent the Internet Spiraling After the President’s Latest Ego-Boosting Project ...read more read less