Contrary to (un)popular belief, as it turns out Donald Trump was not in fact named as Time 2017 Person of the Year, but the brave individuals who have come forward to break their silence on high profile sexual predators. Trump was named as runner up however, but the accompanying story — much like last year’s — is hardly complimentary. Instead, Time paints the portrait of a leader who has largely divided America, who tweets recklessly and without abandon, who has empowered the tyrants of the world, who regularly threatens and attacks a free press, and who has the public scrambling to keep up with one scandal to the next.
Though it was the president’s use of Twitter that seemed to take front stage in the piece, which notes that the “the daily flow of conflict” that Trump spews from social media can be “numbing,” noting how “a new Trump tweet can light up cable news for days, then recede into nothingness.” The publication also took a moment to clarify Trump’s false assertion that he had “PROBABLY” been named as Person of the Year.
TIME had sought and tentatively secured the President’s participation in an interview and photo shoot for this article. On Nov. 24, the day after Thanksgiving, he abruptly pulled out. “Time Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named ‘Man (Person) of the Year,’ like last year, but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot,” the President tweeted. “I said probably is no good and took a pass. Thanks anyway!” Trump’s tweet was not accurate: TIME made no assurances and placed no conditions on the outcome of our editorial decisionmaking.
Trump has yet to sound off on — where else — Twitter over the honor of being named runner up, but as with most things, it’s likely forthcoming.
(Via Time)