Time Magazine announced Donald Trump as its 2016 Person of the Year on Tuesday.
This image provided by Time magazine, shows the cover of the magazine's Person of the Year edition with President-elect Donald Trump in New York. Time editor Nancy Gibbs said the publication’s choice was a “straightforward” choice of the person who has had the greatest influence on events "for better or worse." (Nadav Kander for Time Magazine via AP)
As the face of the decision, Time Managing Editor Nancy Gibbs has done quite a bit of explaining.
In an editorial piece on what factored into the board's decision, Gibbs gives her yearly reminder that the award goes to someone who had the most powerful effect on the year's news cycle and on the world — for better or for worse.
Gibbs' toast to Trump reflects the uncertainty of which way Trump's influence will go: "For reminding America that demagoguery feeds on despair and that truth is only as powerful as the trust in those who speak it, for empowering a hidden electorate by mainstreaming its furies and live-streaming its fears, and for framing tomorrow’s political culture by demolishing yesterday’s."
Gibbs added in an interview after the big reveal on the Today show that though the country is as divided as ever over whether Trump will save or tank America, consensus on his explosive influence goes largely un-debated.
Trump responded to the recognition with praise for the magazine, saying that he read Time growing up and calling it "a tremendous honor" to grace its cover as Person of the Year. The president-elect did take issue with the cover's subtitle: "President of the Divided States of America." Trump insists that America came to him divided, and his mission is to piece it back together.
Trump's public opinion of the magazine hasn't always been so flattering, though. Trump has roasted Time on Twitter in the past when he saw the magazine going downhill for its print quality and refusal to include him in top 100 influential people lists.
Midway through his presidential campaign, Trump bashed Time for putting him on the title's short list but ultimately choosing German Chancellor Angela Merkel — the "person who is ruining Germany" — as its 2015 Person of the Year.
But now, Trump has taken his place in the magazine's hall of fame, and a Time photo history shows some of his company.
Eleven U.S. presidents have received the honor, including Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, both George Bushes and Barack Obama. Presidents aren't automatic shoo-ins, but during the past two decades, Time has taken on a tradition of always honoring the newly elected or reelected president.
Time has taken more controversial routes before too, naming dictators like Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin as the year's biggest influencer. While Time's editors back then wrote confidently about the grave threat the recipients posed, today's staff — and readers — will have to wait and see.
In an editorial piece on what factored into the board's decision, Gibbs gives her yearly reminder that the award goes to someone who had the most powerful effect on the year's news cycle and on the world — for better or for worse.
Gibbs' toast to Trump reflects the uncertainty of which way Trump's influence will go: "For reminding America that demagoguery feeds on despair and that truth is only as powerful as the trust in those who speak it, for empowering a hidden electorate by mainstreaming its furies and live-streaming its fears, and for framing tomorrow’s political culture by demolishing yesterday’s."
Gibbs added in an interview after the big reveal on the Today show that though the country is as divided as ever over whether Trump will save or tank America, consensus on his explosive influence goes largely un-debated.
Trump responded to the recognition with praise for the magazine, saying that he read Time growing up and calling it "a tremendous honor" to grace its cover as Person of the Year. The president-elect did take issue with the cover's subtitle: "President of the Divided States of America." Trump insists that America came to him divided, and his mission is to piece it back together.
Trump's public opinion of the magazine hasn't always been so flattering, though. Trump has roasted Time on Twitter in the past when he saw the magazine going downhill for its print quality and refusal to include him in top 100 influential people lists.
Midway through his presidential campaign, Trump bashed Time for putting him on the title's short list but ultimately choosing German Chancellor Angela Merkel — the "person who is ruining Germany" — as its 2015 Person of the Year.
But now, Trump has taken his place in the magazine's hall of fame, and a Time photo history shows some of his company.
Eleven U.S. presidents have received the honor, including Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, both George Bushes and Barack Obama. Presidents aren't automatic shoo-ins, but during the past two decades, Time has taken on a tradition of always honoring the newly elected or reelected president.
Time has taken more controversial routes before too, naming dictators like Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin as the year's biggest influencer. While Time's editors back then wrote confidently about the grave threat the recipients posed, today's staff — and readers — will have to wait and see.