Bernie Scolaro is a retired school counselor, a past president of the Sioux City Education Association, and former Sioux City school board member.
I applauded TIME magazine’s 2024 Athlete of the Year, Caitlin Clark. She has brought so much positive attention to women’s basketball. She is undeniably also a great role model for younger, aspiring athletes.
Shortly after, TIME named President-elect Donald Trump as Person of the Year. Honestly, I initially wasn’t even sure if this was just another AI photo or if it was real. I read disparaging comments on social media about the magazine’s choice.
TIME’s Person of the Year is someone who has had a major impact on the news, for better or for worse. Donald J. Trump certainly deserves that title for 2024. Having been convicted of 34 felonies but never faced jail time, it seems he will continue to face absolutely no accountability for any illegal or immoral action. As a twice-impeached past president who incited an insurrection to try to stay in power and prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 election, he has nevertheless been elected president once again.
Even after seeing the insurrection and the violence, even after cabinet chaos characterized by frequent changes and corruption scandals involving several cabinet members, even after he mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to many excess deaths, Americans voted for Trump to lead the U. S. again.
After telling some 30,000 lies during his first presidency, he continues to lie, and millions of people continues to believe him—whether he is talking about the economy, the supposedly “rigged” 2020 election, or that January 6 insurrectionists are “hostages” who should be freed.
Trump has clearly suggested he wants to change our democratic republic and dismantle our institutions and balance of power, in order to rule as a dictator. Yet more than 77 million Americans still voted for him.
I do not know of anyone else who can convince so many members of Congress that they must follow his lead, whether it’s pushing for unqualified, potentially dangerous cabinet picks, or blocking a bipartisan border security bill because he wanted to use a crisis as his political talking point.
I do not know of anyone but Trump who can use projection so powerfully that his base parrots how corrupt Joe Biden (or Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama) is, how Russia interference and collusion with his campaign was a hoax, that he is a victim of witch hunts by Democrats, the FBI or the DOJ. Nearly single-handedly, he has made a huge segment of the public distrust all these nonpartisan institutions. The Supreme Court justices he appointed have made some blatantly partisan decisions, whether it was overturning the Roe v. Wade precedent or inventing presidential immunity.
I do not know anyone else but Trump who can get by with saying he’s for the working people yet hire billionaires for top government positions and seek tax cuts for the most wealthy. Only Trump can get the support of the Evangelical “Christians” who simultaneously revere him like a god while ignoring sexual assault, infidelity, and crude sexual innuendos towards women. Only Trump can have members of his last administration distance themselves from him and warn that he is such a threat that some even endorsed the Democratic ticket.
Despite all this, Americans elected Trump again.
Trump will continue to affect the news. He has openly discussed going after news organizations and media outlets that do not lavishly praise him.
In a year or so, TIME might once again name Trump as Person of the Year. It just may not be a choice.
Adolf Hitler was Time’s Person of the Year in 1938. I think 2024 is clearly Trump’s turn.
Top image of Donald Trump at a rally in Reading, Pennsylvania on November 4 was first published on his campaign’s Facebook page.