American President-elect, Donald J. Trump, has been named as the Times person of the year for 2016.
The annual cover on which the magazine recognises the person who “for better or for worse … has done the most to influence the events of the year” pictures the president-elect in his New York tower with the headline, Donald Trump: President of the Divided States of America.
The editor-in-chief of Time, Nancy Gibbs, wrote in the issue: “So which is it this year: better or worse? The challenge for Donald Trump is how profoundly the country disagrees about the answer.
“It’s hard to measure the scale of his disruption … 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, Donald Trump is Time’s 2016 person of the year.”
In an interview accompanying the cover, Trump says he does not believe Russia interfered in the election, defends his claim of widespread illegal voting, and insists that despite his wealth he represents “the workers of the world”, who “love me”.
On allegations made by the US government that Russia hacked the Democratic national committee’s emails, Trump tells Time: “I don’t believe they interfered … It could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey.”
Other people considered include singer, Beyonce, UKIP leader, Nigel Farage, Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg.