# Time Person of the Year 2026

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-person-of-the-year-2026/1031963>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [July 27, 2026, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-person-of-the-year-2026/1031963 "2026-07-27T16:31:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 11\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-person-of-the-year-2026/1031963/21 "2026-07-28T00:29:47Z")

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Eh, nonsense.

Trump in 2024 and in 2016. Musk in 2021, and not for his good-ish works, more for his destruction. Putin in 2007, Bush 2 in 2004, despite not being actually elected. They lurve them some destructive disasters.

trump for 2026 unless somebody else uses nukes. Then whoever that is wins.

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**Author:** ![SwissMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@SwissMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwissMan)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-person-of-the-year-2026/1031963/22 "2026-07-28T00:59:54Z")

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If the Dems at least re-take the House in November, and the DSA candidates who have won nominations do fairly well, you have to figure Mamdani would have a good chance.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-person-of-the-year-2026/1031963/23 "2026-07-28T01:15:47Z")

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It definitely depends on how the midterm elections go. If it’s a blue wave, there’s no way they’d give it to Trump.

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**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-person-of-the-year-2026/1031963/24 "2026-07-28T01:17:37Z")

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Presidents only get POTY when they get elected. It’s not gonna be Trump.

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**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-person-of-the-year-2026/1031963/25 "2026-07-28T02:22:19Z")

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As of July, I’d give it to the Strait of Hormuz.

> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Zelenskyy might get it again… once the war is over. But hope though I might, I don’t think that’ll be this year.

I agree on both points.

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**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-person-of-the-year-2026/1031963/26 "2026-07-28T12:00:11Z")

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> [@CaveMike](#):
>
> I’d give it to the Strait of Hormuz

If inanimate objects are eligible, I nominate: the drone.  
Drones are a massive, game-changing, world-changing and history-making development in the history of warfare.

The year 2026 will be written into the history books as the year when drones proved that they can defeat traditional armies. Every army in the world is now outdated and must completely revolutionize its tactics.  
In 2026, Ukraine and Iran showed that cheap drones are the future of war.

But it is a story too unpleasant for Time magazine to put on the cover. And it won’t sell many copies…

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**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-person-of-the-year-2026/1031963/27 "2026-07-28T12:10:50Z")

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It has happened in the past, but something specific has to be involved.

The last two times it happened: Bill Clinton in 1998, for the Monica Lewinsky scandal (Ken Starr shared it with him), and George H.W. Bush in 1990, for the Gulf War.

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**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-person-of-the-year-2026/1031963/28 "2026-07-29T01:17:06Z")

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This year has certainly been the year of the drone. Both in Ukraine/Russia and Iran.

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**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-person-of-the-year-2026/1031963/29 "2026-07-29T01:51:06Z")

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The chances of Mamdani doing anything notable enough in his first year to earn it are very slim. As mayor he just doesn’t have that kind of power. Maybe as the bogeyman to MAGA.

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**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-person-of-the-year-2026/1031963/30 "2026-07-31T12:29:42Z")

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A thought I’ve had would be Andy Burnham, considering that the fast-track way in which he ousted Keir Starmer could be symptomatic of a political shift to the left that might be coming for Europe as a whole (not just the UK). But I suppose Burnham is not sufficiently well known in the US to qualify for Time; apparently, the only British Prime Minister to ever be Person of the Year was, unsurprisingly, Churchill.

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**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2026, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-person-of-the-year-2026/1031963/31 "2026-08-01T16:00:31Z")

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Mark Carney

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