Donald Trump Is Named TIME's Person of the Year 2016

Donald Trump has been named TIME’s Person of the Year 2016.

TIME selected their Person of the Year for the 90th time on Wednesday morning, and that person is none other than President-elect Donald Trump. Trump beat out a short list of fellow POTY candidates that included Hillary Clinton, "The Hackers," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the CRISPR pioneers, and Beyoncé. TIME editor Nancy Gibbs explained TIME’s decision to select Trump as their choice for POTY in a piece published shortly after the publication made its selection official.

 

"The year 2016 was the year of his rise," Gibbs wrote. "2017 will be the year of his rule, and like all newly elected leaders, he has a chance to fulfill promises and defy expectations. His supporters and his critics will discover together how much of what he said he actually believes."

Trump's POTY selection comes less than a year after he tweeted about how he didn't believe TIME would ever honor him by criticizing the publication's decision to appoint Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, the Person of the Year 2015:

Trump appeared on Today on Wednesday morning and talked about what an "honor" it was to be chosen this time around:

Trump also touched on a range of other topics—including everything from the state of America right now to his relationship with President Obama—during the course of his interview:

In addition to appearing on the TIME POTY cover, Trump also sat with the magazine for a cover story. The story centers around Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election, which it largely attributes to his showmanship and ability to craft an effective narrative rather than particular policy subscriptions. It also notes that Clinton's decision to go after Trump's moral character in the final weeks of the campaign backfired on her, disconnecting her with people whose primary concern was the economy. Overall, it casts a shade of serious uncertainty over the future of American politics and notes Trump's popularity amongst anti-globalization constituencies as well as his unorthodox positions for a Republican president.

Interestingly, Trump seems to backpedal on plans to deport "Dreamers," or undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. "We’re going to work something out that’s going to make people happy and proud," he said. "They got brought here at a very young age, they’ve worked here, they’ve gone to school here. Some were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And they’re in never-never land because they don’t know what’s going to happen."

You can read the full story on Trump here.

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