By: Melanie Lust’19; Assistant Creative Director

On December 7th, Time Magazine announced its choice for Person of the year – and, to no one’s surprise, it’s Donald J. Trump.

From this choice immediately stemmed an outpouring of hatred, anger, and anti-Trump sentiment aimed directly at the magazine. All across social media were threats of boycotting or unsubscribing. Some even went as far as to compare Trump to Hitler, who received the same title in 1938.

But all this unbridled rage is unnecessary, and demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of what being Person of the Year means.

Time’s decision was not based on who they deemed to be the greatest, most morally sound public figure in recent history. Their criteria is “the person who had the greatest influence, for better or worse, on the events of the year,” according to editor-in-chief Nancy Gibbs.

And who better fits those requirements than President-Elect Trump? Who, in the past year, has been more controversial, more talked-about, more outspoken? Who else has so drastically and permanently changed the way politics in America are viewed? When looking back on 2016 decades from now, who is the one person everyone is going to remember?

Measuring how Trump completely tore apart the fabric of American politics is nearly impossible. He alone managed to collectively get our society talking about some of the most pressing issues of our time. He single-handedly swept the election into a roaring, suspenseful, and controversial cataclysm of unprecedented proportions. He questioned and therefore reformed everything we thought to be right about government, current events, debating, voting, and elections in general.

And we know for certain that he changed these things simply because his ideas were noticed. No politician or world figure was given more coverage in the media. His every move was followed closely and criticised even by foreign leaders.

Why? Because he is an unusual person with the power to change everything.

Donald Trump’s influence this year has been massive. Whether that influence has been positive
or negative, it’s still influence, and it still changed the world.