Donald Trump once publicly speculated that Time would never name the news magazine’s “Person of the Year.”
Now he has received that honor twice.
Time on Thursday named Trump its pick of the year, identifying the president-elect as the person or group deemed to have had the greatest impact on global affairs “for better or worse.” To celebrate the unveiling of the magazine cover, Trump will ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. Trump appeared in a wide-ranging interview with the magazine last month.
Time’s Person of the Year remains an annual cultural touchstone, and the distinction has become something of an obsession for Trump throughout the years. A Time cover naming him Person of the Year in 2009 hangs on several of his golf clubs, The Washington Post reported, though none have been printed for nearly a decade.
Through his widely followed Twitter account, Trump has regularly weighed in on the annual selection and the amplified accounts that suggest it should be him. He criticized the magazine in 2011 for choosing “The Protester” to give a nod to the revolutions sweeping the Arab world and the US occupation movement. A year later, he said Time had “lost all credibility” after failing to list him among the 100 most influential people of the year. Trump has also privately complained about the picks, especially when Taylor Swift won in 2023. Trump has often been fixated on the pop star’s power, posting “I hate Taylor Swift” on social media after she endorsed Vice. President Kamala Harris.
Over time, the title became a symbol of mainstream fame and respect, though Trump expected it. In 2015, when the magazine named then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel its Person of the Year, he wrote on Twitter: “They picked the person who is ruining Germany.”
Even after Time named Trump its 2016 Person of the Year — which he called a “huge honor” on social media — he watched the results closely. The following year, Trump said he again blended in for change, but would not agree to an interview and photo shoot.
Over the decades, the title has been bestowed on a wide range of figures, from statesmen and activists to entrepreneurs and, in some cases, brutal authoritarian leaders. Except for Gerald Ford, every US president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has been named Person of the Year at least once. After defeating Trump in 2020, President Joe Biden and Harris became co-honors.
Members of Trump’s family are expected to attend Thursday’s ceremony, including Ivanka Trump, according to a source familiar with the planning. It marks a rare public appearance for the president-elect’s daughter, who served as a senior adviser during his first term.
