In a desperate push for relevancy, Time magazine has chosen Donald Trump as its Person of the Year for 2024.
No, really Time? Tell me something I didn’t know.
Last month, more than 77 million Americans chose Trump as their president, including me. He’s made news either running for president or serving as president for the past decade.
Trump isn’t just the Person of the Year. He’s the man of the hour and the month. It’s Trump’s world now: We all just live in it, including Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Time magazine.
Even Time magazine must acknowledge Donald Trump’s triumphs
The magazine’s lengthy profile of the once and future president recognizes that “Trump’s political rebirth is unparalleled in American history” and that he “beat not one but two Democratic opponents, swept all seven swing states, and became the first Republican to win the popular vote in 20 years.”
But with cynicism and leftism on their side, the article’s authors cast doubt on America’s choice. Much of the profile questions Trump’s tactics, staff and history.
“Whether Trump can actually fix the root causes of Americans’ anger is another question […] He will also see just how far the nation is willing to let him go,” the article notes. “If he succeeds, he could reshape the country. Along the way, he risks tearing down the constitutional norms and institutions that have seen America’s great experiment in democracy through 2 1⁄2 centuries.”
Opinion:It’s already Trump’s world. Biden is just fading away in it.
I’m also cynical about Trump, and I’m a Republican. But if I hear the phrase “constitutional norms” applied to Trump one more time without mentioning the many norms that Biden, Harris and the Democratic Party tore to shreds this year, I’m going to cast Time magazine into the abyss of irrelevance once and for all.
Time is trying to capitalize on Trump just like he has used them to feel charismatic, powerful and good about himself. (He’s my president-elect, sure, but he’s still a glutton for showboating, y’all.)
The relationship between the news media and Trump is a toxic circle of self-interests.
Time can’t stop putting Trump on the cover
Time’s editors wax eloquently about why they chose Trump as their Person of the Year. In addition to the main profile, there’s a story about how the cover photo was staged, and another article explains the “stories behind” each time the magazine has featured Trump on the cover.
Time has put Trump on the cover 43 times. That’s more than Bill Clinton (40 times) and Barack Obama (31 times). And Trump hasn’t even started his second term.
Opinion:Biden’s sad, failed presidency is even worse than Trump’s first term
The current cover portrays Trump as stoic and powerful. But the magazine also has often portrayed him negatively. He was shown, for example, as a drowning man during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In October 2016, the magazine portrayed Trump as a melting orange blob. That cover image was published only days before Americans elected Trump as their president the first time. (Talk about missing the real story.)
Time readily admits its obsession with Trump: “[I]n the years that followed, we presented [Trump] as a frenetic Twitter user crumbling the Washington monument (March 20, 2017), a punching bag (Oct. 9, 2017), a graphic wrecking ball (Nov. 6, 2017), an angry character with his hair on fire (Jan. 22, 2018), a cross between himself and Vladimir Putin (July 30, 2018), a king looking into a mirror (June 18, 2018), a slingshot-holding fighter dueling with Nancy Pelosi (Jan. 21, 2019), a happy President whistling under an umbrella in the rain (April 8, 2019), and a man who has painted himself into a corner (Oct. 7, 2019).”
Is everybody OK over there at Time? Someone should check on them.
Even Time magazine must admit that Trump is once again at the center of the news universe. He’s again on the cover of a once venerated but now largely irrelevant magazine. And Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are pouting in a corner at the White House.
As William Thackeray said, “All is vanity, nothing is fair.”
Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.
