NEW YORK: About six months ago, Donald Trump was sitting in a courtroom in lower Manhattan listening to a jury make him the first former president convicted of a crime.
On Thursday, he will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange just blocks from that courthouse and as he was recognized by Time magazine as its person of the year.
The honors for the businessman-turned-politician are a measure of Trump’s remarkable comeback from an ostracized former president who refused to accept his election loss four years ago to a president-elect who won the White House decisively in November.
Sam Jacobs, Time’s editor in chief, announced on NBC’s “Today” show that Trump was Time’s 2024 Person of the Year. Jacobs said Trump was someone who “for better or for worse, had the most influence on the news in 2024.”
“This is someone who made an historic comeback, who reshaped the American presidency and who’s reordering American politics,” Jacobs said. “It’s hard to argue with the fact that the person who’s moving into the Oval Office is the most influential person in news.”
He added that “there’s always a hot debate” at the magazine over the honor, “although I have to admit that this year was an easier decision than years past.”
In an interview with the magazine published Thursday, Trump spoke about his final campaign blitz and election win.
“I called it ‘72 Days of Fury,’” Trump said. “We hit the nerve of the country. The country was angry.”
