One minute you’re a real estate mogul and reality TV star, then not soon after you’re the next President of the United States and “Person of the Year.” That has been the unbelievable roller coaster ride of Donald J. Trump’s life the last few years. Time magazine announced that President-elect Trump won their “Person of the Year” award in 2016.
Trump told NBC’s Today show that winning the award was a “great honor.” The tradition of selecting a “Man of the Year” began in 1927, and the title was changed to “Person of the Year” in 1999.
Time selects the individual “who had the greatest influence, for better or worse, on the events of the year.” Time magazine said Trump’s improbable victory in the 2016 presidential election has shaken up the U.S. political system.
“For those who believe this is all for the better, Trump’s victory represents a long-overdue rebuke to an entrenched and arrogant governing class; for those who see it as for the worse, the destruction extends to cherished norms of civility and discourse, a politics poisoned by vile streams of racism, sexism, nativism,” the magazine said. “To his believers, he delivers change—broad, deep, historic change, not modest measures doled out in Dixie cups; to his detractors, he inspires fear both for what he may do and what may be done in his name.”
“The fascinating thing this year is, I’ve never seen so much agreement over who had the most influence or the most disagreement over whether it was for better or for worse,” Time managing editor Nancy Gibbs said.
“When have we ever seen a single individual who has so defied expectations, broken the rules, violated norms, beaten not one but two political parties on the way to winning an election that he entered with 100-1 odds against him,” Gibbs added. “I don’t think we have ever seen one person operating in such an unconventional way have an impact on the events of the year quite like this.”
On the cover of the magazine, Trump is sitting in a chair and he is billed as the “President Of The Divided States Of America.”
In his interview on the Today show, Trump said the nation was divided when he began his presidential campaign in 2015, and he will bring it together as president.
The runner-up for Time’s Person of the Year was Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who lost the 2016 election to Trump.
Trump was in contention for the award last year, but was beaten by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
When he did not win the award last year he tweeted this.
I told you @TIME Magazine would never pick me as person of the year despite being the big favorite They picked person who is ruining Germany
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2015
This is the 10th time that Time magazine has put Trump on its cover.
[Time]