IGNORED: Time Magazine gives Trump one more reason to hate them
Donald Trump, a has-been ex-president, has been dropped from Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people, marking the first time in six years that the tantrum-throwing former president didn’t make the cut – and he’s not going to be happy. In 2012 and 2013, after failing to be included on the list, Trump went on a major Twitter rant.
CNN reported that when he was left off the 2012 list, Trump tweeted “I knew last year that @TIME Magazine lost all credibility when they didn’t include me in their Top 100…”
He was singing the same tune a year later when he was left off the list again, and he tweeted “The Time magazine list of the 100 Most Influential People is a joke and stunt of a magazine that will, like Newsweek, soon be dead. Bad list!”
None of this should come as a surprise. A dedicated Twitter troll, Trump has a long history of throwing social media temper tantrums when not getting what he wants. He’s also known to be terribly inconsistent, singing Time magazine’s praises just a few years later when he made the cover in 2015. Then he tweeted: “On the cover of @TIME Magazine—a great honor!”
It was praise for the magazine that would be short-lived. It lasted only until German Chancellor Angela Merkel was named Time‘s Person of the Year. Taking a play out of his too-familiar playbook, trump criticized the publication and made baseless claims that it was “doing poorly.” Trump reportedly told a crowd at a Mesa, Arizona rally during his 2016 campaign for President:
“I was on their cover four, five weeks ago. They should have picked me for the ‘Person of the Year,’ but they didn’t. No, they should have. I said I’m never going to get it because I’m not establishment. But every panel that I saw on television when Time was — because, you know, it’s sort of cool, even though the magazine’s going down the tubes. No, it’s a cool thing. Most magazines are going down, in all fairness to them. It’s great, isn’t it? To watch these guys go down the tubes? Isn’t it great? I love it.”
If being left off the list doesn’t make him angry, those who did make the cut very well should enrage him. Not only is Volodymyr Zelensky – whom then-President Trump tried to extort, leading to his first impeachment – on the list, but his profile is written by President Joe Biden, the same man who won both the popular vote and electoral vote in the 2020 presidential election. Now Biden can add Time Magazine’s vote.
Biden — who is also on the list — describes Ukraine’s fearless President as “a leader worthy of their bravery and resilience, as citizens across the country—shopkeepers and soldiers, tailors and truck drivers—fight for their homes and their freedom.”
Mere weeks after losing not once, but twice in the courts to New York Attorney General Letitia James, being passed over for a spot in the top 100 in favor of the savvy prosecutor just might be what sends Trump over the edge. In two separate cases, a judge threw out Trump’s suit against James and another ordered the hopefully soon-to-be-indicted Trump to testify under oath in James’ case against him.
Separated into six categories – Artists, Titans, Leaders, Icons, Pioneers, and the newly added Innovators. – Attorney General Letitia James’ work as the state of New York’s first Black female Attorney General secured her spot amongst the Leaders. Buffalo’s ABC 7 reported TIME’s senior correspondent Charlotte Alter’s reason for James’ inclusion:
“As the first Black woman to serve as New York State’s attorney general—one of the most powerful law-enforcement positions in the country—Letitia James has used her position to take down powerful men and pursue nationwide causes. Her investigation into the state’s handling of COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes damaged Governor Andrew Cuomo’s reputation, and her office’s investigation into the sexual harassment claims against the governor led to his resignation in August 2021. Her investigation into former President Donald Trump’s business dealings has been one of the most aggressive so far, resulting in a New York State judge briefly holding the former President in contempt of court as the state seeks documents relating to possible fraud at his organization. And she’s using her position as New York’s top law-enforcement officer to wield power on national issues, from protecting women from other states who seek an abortion in New York to investigating the role of social media companies in spreading online hate.”
Other notable inclusions, for better or worse, are Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Vladimir Putin, and – this one’s gotta sting – House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. I would hate to be in the room when Trump sees the former Senator and Vice President who beat him, the Congressman who criticized him, the foreign leader who refused him, the District Attorney prosecuting him, and the Governor seeking to replace him as the GOP’s 2024 Presidential nominee, all being celebrated in his stead.
With its list of the 100 most influential people, Time Magazine managed to do what the GOP just can’t seem to – drop Trump.
Follow Ty Ross on Twitter @cooltxchick
