CNN
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Donald Trump once publicly speculated that Time would never name him the news magazine’s “Person of the Year.”
Now, the honor has been bestowed on him twice.
Time on Thursday named Trump as this year’s choice, recognizing the president-elect as the individual or group deemed to have wielded the greatest influence on global affairs “for good or for ill.” To celebrate the unveiling of the magazine cover, Trump will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. Trump sat for a wide-ranging interview with the magazine last month.
Time announced Trump’s selection on X Thursday morning.
Trump’s selection mirrors his first recognition in 2016, when Time named him Person of the Year after his unexpected rise to the presidency. This time, the unveiling caps a remarkable comeback and a resurgence that has the potential to upend modern American politics.
Despite the magazine’s dwindling circulation, Time’s Person of the Year remains an annual cultural touchstone and the distinction has become an obsession of sorts for Trump throughout the years. A Time cover naming him Person of the Year in 2009 hung in several of his golf clubs, The Washington Post reported nearly a decade later, though no such issue was ever printed.
Through his widely followed Twitter account, Trump regularly weighed in on the annual selection and amplified accounts suggesting it should be him. He criticized the magazine in 2011 for picking “The Protester” in a nod to the revolutions breaking out across the Arab world and the Occupy movement in the US. A year later, he said Time had “lost all credibility” because it failed to list him among its 100 most influential people of the year. Trump has also privately complained about the choices, in particular when Taylor Swift won in 2023. Trump has often been fixated on the power the pop star wields and posted, “I hate Taylor Swift,” on social media earlier this year after she endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
Over time, the title became a symbol of the mainstream fame and respect Trump sought out but appeared out of reach. In 2015, when the magazine named then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel its Person of the Year, he wrote on Twitter, “I told you @TIME Magazine would never pick me as person of the year despite being the big favorite,” before adding: “They picked person who is ruining Germany.”
Even after Time named Trump its person of the year in 2016 – which he called “a great honor” on social media – he continued to closely monitor the results. The following year, Trump claimed he was in the mix for the distinction again but wouldn’t agree to an interview and photo shoot. Time disputed his version of events.
Despite his regular criticism of the media, Trump has regularly granted access to legacy outlets – including Time. He sat down for an extended interview in April of this year with the magazine at his Palm Beach club. Harris turned down a similar opportunity, the magazine’s owner said in October.
Over the decades, the title has been granted to a wide array of figures, from heads of state and activists to entrepreneurs and, in some instances, brutal authoritarian leaders. Every US president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt, except Gerald Ford, has been named Person of the Year at least once. President Joe Biden and Harris were co-honorees after they defeated Trump in 2020.
Members of Trump’s family are expected to attend the Thursday event, including Ivanka Trump, according to a source familiar with planning. It marks a rare public appearance for the president-elect’s daughter, who served as a senior adviser during his first term.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Betsy Klein and Hadas Gold contributed to this report.
