President-elect Donald J. Trump is Time’s 2016 Person of the Year, the magazine announced on the Today show.
TIME Washington Bureau Chief Michael Scherer wrote the magazine’s cover story:
For years, he fed off the disrespect and used it to grab more tabloid headlines, to connect to common people. Now he has upended the leadership of both major political parties and effectively shifted the political direction of the international order. He will soon command history’s most lethal military, along with economic levers that can change the lives of billions. And the people he has to thank are those he calls “the forgotten,” millions of American voters who get paid by the hour in shoes that will never touch these carpets-working folk, regular Janes and Joes, the dots in the distance.
Here’s the cover, in full:
Among the other finalists were Hillary Clinton, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Beyoncé.
Trump went after Time for its Person of the Year declaration in 2015, when the magazine selected German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
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 year, Trump appeared to scoop the magazine with a tweet just before his cover was announced:
I will be interviewed on the @TODAYshow at 7:30. Enjoy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2016