Donald Trump, the president elected for a second term at the head of the United States after being convicted by the courts, was named, this Thursday, December 12, personality of the year 2024 by the American magazine Timean announcement he celebrated at the New York Stock Exchange, where he was warmly applauded.
The Republican, at the center of a “stunning political comeback”, wrote the magazine, had already received this distinction in 2016, during his first surprise victory in the presidential election against the Democrat and favorite of the polls Hillary Clinton.
A historic comeback
“Today we see a resurgence of populism, a growing distrust of the institutions that defined the last century, and an erosion of the belief that progressive values will lead to better lives for most people “Trump is both the agent and the beneficiary of all this,” writes the editor-in-chief of. Time Sam Jacobs. “For leading a historic comeback, for bringing about a unique political realignment, for reshaping the American presidency and changing America’s role in the world, Donald Trump is the 2024 Person of the Year. Time magazine,” he adds.
The distinction, granted by the New York magazine since 1927, is generally intended to underline the weight and influence of a personality on the international scene, not necessarily their popularity or the support of the American newspaper, whose track record goes from Adolf Hitler in 1938 to pop superstar Taylor Swift in 2023.
The announcement is accompanied by a long report around Donald Trump preparing with his teams to return to the White House, from his luxurious Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. In an interview conducted on November 25, before his meeting with French Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the occasion of the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, the future American president said he was “strongly opposed” to the Ukraine’s use of long-range American missiles in Russia to push Moscow back. While European capitals are worried about Donald Trump’s intentions regarding American support, crucial for Ukraine, he nevertheless promises to “not abandon kyiv”.
Political Renaissance
After relentlessly accusing the Biden administration of being the cause of inflation, and promising to lower food prices during his campaign, Donald Trump also warns in Time that this task will be “very difficult”.
The future president, known to be very attached to his image, was able to stage the distinction of Time during a visit to the New York Stock Exchange, where he was warmly applauded. He appeared with the front page of the magazine behind him as he symbolically rang the stock market bell. “USA! USA!” similar to those heard in his meetings resonated in the large trading room. “We are going to lower your taxes. We are going to lower them significantly,” he said.
In 2017, at the start of his first term in the White House, the Washington Post had revealed that false covers of Time advantageous for the Republican billionaire decorated some of his golf courses in the United States. An extraordinary figure in American political history, Donald Trump is preparing to become the oldest President of the United States in history at 78 years old. He makes some Americans fear an authoritarian policy, while others welcome his promises to expel millions of migrants and massively tax imports to protect the country’s economy.
Facing certain political death after his departure from the White House in chaos in 2020 and after his indictment in several criminal cases, one of which resulted in the first conviction of a former president, Donald Trump maintained his candidacy . After a tense campaign, which also saw him escape two assassination attempts, one of which was in the middle of a meeting, he won over Kamala Harris.
Donald Trump was preferred by Time to a list of “finalists” which included Kamala Harris, the elected president of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the president of the American Central Bank (Fed) Jerome Powell, the boss of Meta Mark Zuckerberg, that of Tesla and support of Donald Trump Elon Musk, Spotify’s number one podcaster Joe Rogan and Yulia Navalnaïa, the widow of Vladimir Putin opponent Alexeï Navalny who died in prison from Siberia in February 2024.