Another Year, Another Person, Time’s Person of the Year

Alyssa Spady, Editor-In- Chief

Each year since 1927, Time magazine has chosen one person to be named the person of the year. This prestigious award is marked by serious criteria. According to Deputy Editor of the Time, Radhika Jones, the Time person of the year is “the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year” (times.com). In previous years, we have seen people from all walks of life. From those civil rights activists like Gandhi and MLK, to groups like the Ebola fighters. This year’s recipient is all those things wrapped into one. His presidential run made many political experts sit and think about how the system has changed from just some short four years ago. His comments prompted backlash from some and praise from others. He has sent fear down the spines of those of different races, religions, sexual identities, and sexual orientations, but he has also sent a shot of ecstasy for his supporters. Reviving some beliefs, wrong and right, that have not been on the front-page of newspapers in decades. But no matter your views on him, president-elect Donald Trump has been chosen as the 2016 Time Person of the Year. His unprecedented political run, in which many thought that it was a clear-cut win for former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, ended in a victory that sent shock waves throughout the world. Donald Trump has fulfilled every part of the criteria given to us by Radhika Jones. While many disagreed with the decision, calling it a bad move on Time’s part, naming him person of the year is not the worst thing to happen. Along with the criteria, this is not the first controversial decision made by the magazine. In 1938, they named Hitler person of the year. 1939 and 1942 both went to Josef Stalin. Now there is no comparison to the two previously named and Trump, but it just goes to show that there are and have been some controversial decisions made in years past. Donald Trump has created a movement within the younger generations for change, which has resulted in younger voters going to the polls to vote. This year’s person, is one that has started a revival within American politics for both the young and old. He has not just impacted home with energetic rallies, but he has impacted the globe on his soon to be installed foreign policies. Congratulations to the 2016 Time magazine person of the year, president-elect Donald Trump.