Time Magazine names Donald Trump Person of the Year for second time
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Donald Trump adorns the magazine’s title cover, sporting his distinctive red tie and striking a pensive pose.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
Follow topic:
NEW YORK - Time Magazine on Dec 12 named US President-elect Donald Trump its “Person of the Year”, marking the second time he has won the accolade, in acknowledgement of the mogul’s stunning political comeback.
Trump, who defeated Vice-President Kamala Harris in the Nov 5 election, adorns the magazine’s title cover, sporting his distinctive red tie and striking a pensive pose.
“For marshalling a comeback of historic proportions, for driving a once-in-a-generation political realignment, for reshaping the American presidency and altering America’s role in the world, Donald Trump is Time’s 2024 Person of the Year,” the magazine said in a statement.
2024 saw Trump convicted on charges of business fraud and nearly assassinated twice
“We are witnessing a resurgence of populism, a widening mistrust in the institutions that defined the last century, and an eroding faith that liberal values will lead to better lives for most people. Trump is both agent and beneficiary of it all,” the magazine said.
The annual award is the magazine’s acknowledgement of the year’s most influential figure.
Past winners include pop star Taylor Swift and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – and Trump himself, in 2016, after his shock defeat of Mrs Hillary Clinton in the presidential election that year.
Having dominated the news events of 2024, Trump’s influence is set to continue when he assumes the presidency in January.
This time around, Trump is promising mass expulsions of undocumented immigrants and major tariffs that threaten to shake up not just the US economy
He has cast doubt on continued support for Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion, and has already become something of a shadow president, receiving foreign leaders at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
His comeback – not only on the cover of Time Magazine, but also at the helm of the US government – was unthinkable a few years ago.
After his supporters stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss, it seemed like Republicans might be ready to wash their hands of the brash outsider who had taken over the party.
Criminal cases were launched over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and he was found liable in civil court for sexual abuse. He remains a polarising figure in US and world politics.
Yet none of that prevented him from rising back up to the top of the Republican ticket, and then going on to win in the general election against Ms Harris.
Ms Harris was among those shortlisted for the award, alongside Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian economist Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny. AFP
