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| - On Dec. 11, 2024, a rumor began circulating online saying Time magazine had selected U.S. President-elect Donald Trump as its annual person of the year, a title that the magazine says represents "a person, group or concept that had the biggest impact — for good or for ill — on the world over the previous 12 months."
For example, X user @LeadingReport — an account with more than 700,000 followers — posted (archived) on Dec. 11: "BREAKING: TIME Magazine names Donald Trump 'Person of the Year'"
Other users on X promoted the claim, including @rawsalerts, an account with over 1.1 million followers. That user posted (archived): "BREAKING: President-elect Donald J. Trump has been chosen as TIME's Person of the Year, with the official announcement scheduled to be published tomorrow."
While Time had not yet made an official announcement as those posts circulated, the magazine confirmed the news on the morning of Dec. 12. It published a cover of its upcoming Dec. 30 issue with the words "PERSON OF THE YEAR" and a photo of Trump, as well as a transcript of the magazine's interview with the president-elect for the title. Multiple news outlets, such as The Associated Press, Politico, The Washington Post and The New York Times, reported on the announcement.
Considering that evidence, the claim that Trump was named Time's person of the year is true.
Before making the announcement official, Time reported that its short list for the honor included Vice President Kamala Harris, Elon Musk, Joe Rogan and others.
As the news about Trump spread, he was visiting Wall Street to ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange, The Associated Press reported. That outlet described the person-of-the-year recognition as 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."
Time previously selected Trump as its person of the year following his 2016 presidential election victory.
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