I agree with everything here except “when reality finally hits.” I don’t believe it will ever hit. He will never accept reality. Like those poor bastards who are dying of covid and still insist it’s a hoax.
His closest allies and most loyal followers will abandon him as they realize he has no more power as a civilian than they do and he really can’t do anything for them. Their time will be better spent kissing the asses of other prominent GOP members.
Even if reality never sets in, can you imagine what it’ll be like in his head when he’s still living in his alternate reality but there’s no one around to keep fantasy alive? I’ll bet, if he still has a social media presence, within a year he’ll be treating his current base like he’s been treating the Left for the past 5 years.
If it’s an American, it might be Stacey Abrams. Flipping GA is no little thing, and if it weren’t for GA and Wisconsin (which also credited her work), Trump’s attempts to roll this back would be a lot more scary.
It might be Poll workers, who risked a lot to save Democracy.
Jacinda Arden is the best non-American suggestion. It would be a huge slap in the face to Trump . . . This lady getting credited for leadership in a task he said was impossible, hopeless.
My first thought.
Covid19: Virus of the Year
I vote for this.
If TIME Person of the Year is about the most impactful person, how could it not be “Patient Zero?” That person, whoever he or she is, had far more impact on the world this year than George Floyd, Trump, Biden, Fauci, or anyone else did.
I have no idea why Jacinda would be on the list, she was on an island nation with a tiny population and then did a hardcore lockdown when it all went down. That’s pretty much easy mode.
Time Magazine hasn’t been relevant for years anyway, but if it isn’t something to do with the pandemic, they might as well just pack it in now.
Either essential workers (which would be my choice) or the virus itself. Nothing else is even close.
Essential workers, including poll workers and funeral home staff
The Michigan election board Republican who voted to certify the Michigan vote.
The protestors who spoke truth to power, stood their ground and hopefully have corrected America’s pathetic path
Canada who has remained a supportive and congenial neighbor, moving towards us, not scorning us in our perversity.
“Canada”? That would be the most bizarre out of the blue choice ever.
It’s gotta be just “covid-19”. The entire world has revolved around it for the entire year.
Remember that the selection is “the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year.” And given they’ve awarded it to non-persons previously, COVID-19 itself might make the most sense.
Obviously, the runaway choice for Person of the Year is Florida Man.
My guesses:
- The virus
- The frontline workers
- Biden/Harris
Not very original, but I expect one of those.
Well I just knew that Trump would figure a way to become a person of the year… 
Yeah, or possibly Trump if he still doesn’t concede and continues to go kicking and screaming well until December.
If Trump does concede there’s a good chance Biden might take it. Time already basically made him Man of the Year with their coverage of him post election.
Essential Workers makes the most sense to me, as that’s a global truth. This has been an issue for every single person in the world. None of this America-centric nonsense.
…not an island. An archipelago. And not a tiny population compared to places like South Dakota or Wyoming or Montana. We did a hardcore lockdown when it all went down but it was anything but easy. We didn’t have enough ICU beds. Not enough PPE. Only enough testing capacity for six days. We were (on paper) worse prepared than the USA, the UK, and most of the rest of the EU. We had to turn the country upside down. Build a network of managed isolation facilities including inventing protocols and repurposed staffing. Along with Ashley Bloomfield on the strength of the daily briefings convinced the entire country to buy into a two month lockdown that prevented thousands of deaths. We’ve built a gold-standard contact tracing network that can contact 100% of contacts and genomic sequencing that can track the point of infection down to a rubbish bin.
I don’t think Jacinda Ardern should win the Time Person of the Year either. But the reasons you think she shouldn’t win are just plain silly.
It’s not my magazine, but I’m not crazy about Time naming non-human – or even non-specific humans – as Person of the Year. I’d rather it be a specific individual or group of individuals. Alas, they do not consult me for my opinion.
FWIW here are the non-human winners of the past:
1982 – The Computer
1988 – The Endangered Earth
And the non-specific human honorees:
1950 – The American Fighting-Man
1956 – The Hungarian Freedom Fighter
1960 – U.S. Scientists
1966 – The Inheritor
1968 – The Apollo 8 Astronauts
1969 – The Middle Americans (Silent Majority)
1975 – American Women
1993 – The Peacemakers
2002 – The Whislteblowers
2003 – The American Soldier
2005 – The Good Samaritans
2006 – You
2011 – The Protester
2014 – Ebola Fighters
2017 – The Silence Breakers
2018 – The Guardian
mmm
ETA I think 2020 should absolutely be the Front Line Worker, so I guess I’m ok with groups after all