Trump is absolutely incapable of distinguishing between having a thing and having won that thing. Machado was definitely going to try to buy leadership of Venezuela with her medal, and the committee just cockblocked her.

I kinda want to see what James Maynard could get for giving his Fields Medal to Trump. Partly because it would be funny to see Trump claim to be a Fields-award winning mathematician, partly because James Maynard would make a much better Secretary of Education than that wrestler.