This is What’s Trending Today.
Time magazine named Donald Trump its “Person of the Year” on Wednesday. The magazine called him “President of the Divided States of America” on its cover.
Trump is the president-elect. He will take office on January 20, 2017.
The magazine calls the U.S. “the Divided States” in part because Trump did not win the most votes in the election. He did, however, easily win enough electoral votes to defeat Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
In its story about selecting President-elect Trump, the magazine said that he won the presidency by inspiring “new levels of anger and fear within his country.”
The magazine says the cover goes to the “person (or people) who wielded the most influence in the previous 12 months.”
It said Wednesday that American presidents become “Person of the Year” about half the time in election years.
The last time someone other than a U.S. president won the title in an election year was 1996. That year, AIDS researcher David Ho won.
Time magazine ran its first “Man of the Year” issue in 1928. That year, the honors went to airplane pilot Charles Lindbergh.
Wallis Simpson was the first woman Time magazine chose for the yearly award. She was named in 1937, when she married King Edward VIII and became the Duchess of Windsor.
That year, the cover said “Woman of the Year.” But the name of the award was officially “Man of the Year” until 1999.
Others who have made the cover include Joseph Stalin, Deng Xiaoping, and Winston Churchill. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was on the cover last year.
But, Time magazine does not always name just one person, or even a person at all. In 1988 it named the Endangered Earth. And in 1975, it named “American women.”
The choice of Trump had both his supporters and detractors talking on social media. “Person of the Year” was one of the top trending topics on Wednesday.
One person wrote: “Whatever you think of him, it’s a fitting choice.”
Other commenters suggested Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Julian Assange of Wikileaks, or Harambe, the gorilla who was killed at a zoo in Ohio after a child fell into his enclosure.
Time said it also considered Hillary Clinton, computer hackers, and singer Beyonce, among others, for the title of 2016 Person of the Year.
And that’s What’s Trending Today.
I’m Dan Friedell.
Dan Friedell wrote this story for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.
What do you think of Time magazine’s decision? Who would you select as the Person of the Year? Let us know in the comments section.
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Words in This Story
inspire – v. to make (someone) want to do something : to give (someone) an idea about what to do or create
entrepreneur – n. a person who starts a business and is willing to risk loss in order to make money
wield – v. to have and use (power, influence, etc.)
fitting – adj. of a kind that is appropriate for the situation or purpose
