Donald Trump Named 2024 TIME Person of the Year

TIME names Donald Trump, President-elect of the United States, as the 2024 TIME Person of the Year.

Since 1927, TIME editors have named a Person of the Year to recognize the person or group of people who had the greatest influence on the events of the year — for better or worse. Person of the Year is not an honor or award - it is a recognition.

In his letter to readers, TIME Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs writes, “On the cusp of his second presidency, all of us—from his most fanatical supporters to his most fervent critics—are living in the Age of Trump…[He] has remade American politics in the process. He won by enlarging his base, seizing the frustration over rising prices and benefiting from a global turn against incumbents…Now we watch as members of Congress, international institutions, and global leaders once again align themselves with his whims. The carousel of Trumpworld characters spins anew. This time, we know what to expect.”

Jacobs continues, “For marshaling a comeback of historic proportions, for driving a once-in-a- generation political realignment, for reshaping the American  presidency  and  altering  America’s  role in the world, Donald Trump is TIME’s 2024 Person of the Year.”

For the cover story, which features an exclusive interview with Donald Trump that took place at Mar-a-Lago on November 25, TIME’s Eric Cortellessa writes, “While Democrats estimated that most of the country wanted a President who would uphold the norms of liberal democracy, Trump saw a nation ready to smash them, tapping into a growing sense that the system was rigged. If America was craving change, it is about to see how much Trump can deliver. He ran on a strongman vision, proposing to deport migrants by the millions, dismantle parts of the federal government, seek revenge against his political adversaries, and dismantle institutions that millions of people see as censorious and corrupt.”

Highlights from TIME's Interview with Donald Trump: 

2024 Campaign

- On his campaign’s final days: “I called it 72 Days of Fury…We hit the nerve of the country. The country was angry.”

- On Trump’s inner circle’s feeling of “maximal worry” following the successful Democratic National Convention, Vice President–elect J.D. Vance tells TIME: “There was this sense of, Is this honeymoon with Kamala Harris going to last all the way until the election?”
- On how his last campaign is behind him: “It’s sad in a way…It will never happen again.” 

- On his campaign promises to lower the price of groceries: “It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up…You know, it’s very hard.”

- On what he told Trump that made him agree on voting by mail and early voting, a former chair of the Pennsylvania Republican Party Rob Gleason tells TIME: “Sir, your people are so excited to vote for you that they want to as soon as they can…They don’t want to wait. But you gotta tell them it’s OK. You gotta give them permission.” 

Jan. 6 Insurrection

- On how one of the first official acts of his presidency will be to pardon most of the rioters accused or convicted of storming the Capitol to block the certification of Biden’s victory: “It’s going to start in the first hour…Maybe the first nine minutes.”

Immigration

- While the Posse Comitatus Act forbids the deployment of the military against civilians, Trump says he is willing to enlist the military to round up and deport migrants: “It doesn’t stop the military if it’s an invasion of our country.” 

- Pressed on how he would respond if the military refuses to carry out those orders, Trump tells TIME: “I’ll only do what the law allows, but I will go up to the maximum level of what the law allows.”

- On how he doesn’t plan to restore the policy of separating children from their families to deter border crossings. But he doesn’t rule it out, either: “I don’t believe we’ll have to, because we will send the whole family back…I would much rather deport them together.”

- On how he will use access to the U.S. market as leverage to force foreign governments to cooperate: “I’ll get them into every country…or we won’t do business with those countries.” 

- On separating families, Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan tells TIME: “there is no deliberate policy being worked on to separate families.” But he also leaves open the possibility of children again being ripped from their parents. “You can’t say zero, it’s not going to happen.” 

- On how Trump’s advisers are planning to build more detention centers to hold migrants until they can be deported to their home countries, Homan tells TIME: “We just don’t arrest an alien and remove them on the same day…We’re going to need beds.”

- On how Trump is likely to seek funding from Congress, according to aides, Homan tells TIME: “It’s going to be expensive.”

Assassination Attempt

- On being viewed as an inspirational figure for the first time the shooting: “A lot of people changed with that moment.”

Abortion

- Trump had been on the verge of supporting a 16-week federal abortion ban before Kellyanne Conway showed him polling that indicated barring the procedure after 16 weeks of pregnancy was more popular than doing so after 24. But Trump’s Trump’s speechwriter and policy director, Vince Haley, had raised an objection on a late-March conference call, according to three people present: “Does he know that the 16-week ban will be stricter than existing law in a lot of the states?” There was a silence. “Probably not,” said Trump’s political director James Blair, who set to assembling a slide deck that argued such a ban would hurt Trump in the key states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, all of which offered women the opportunity to obtain the procedure until at least 20 weeks of pregnancy. 

- After flipping through Blair’s presentation on the plane, Trump perked his head up: “So we leave it to the states, right?” Advisers agreed. “Great,” Trump said. “We’ll do a video.” 

- On if he is committed to making sure that the FDA does not strip their ability to access abortion pills: “That would be my commitment. Yeah, it's always been my commitment.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

- On whether he would sign off on ending childhood vaccination programs if RFK Jr. makes the move: “We're going to have a big discussion. The autism rate is at a level that nobody ever believed possible. If you look at things that are happening, there's something causing it.” 

- On how the pitch to Kennedy to endorse Trump was simple, Vance tells TIME: “You’re not going to win. You’re not going to have any effect on this race other than taking votes away from Donald Trump. So why don’t you actually join the team, set differences to the side, and focus on the big things that we care about?” 

- On how, to her, Kennedy’s endorsement was one of the campaign’s key moments that neutralized the threat that he would peel off votes from Trump. But more importantly, incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles tells TIME: “He allowed us to broaden the base of the party…He was a key way to do that.” 

Transgender Rights 

- On whether he will reverse Biden's protections for trans kids under Title Nine: “I'm going to look at it very closely. We're looking at it right now. We're gonna look at it. We're gonna look at everything. Look, the country is torn apart. We're gonna look at everything.”

Trump Family and Legacy

- On what he thinks will happen to the MAGA movement when he leaves office or when he is no longer on the scene: “Well, I hope when I leave office, I'll be able to also leave people that are extremely competent and get it. And we do have those people. We have far more than you think. We have some great warriors.” 

- On whether he thinks those people include members of his family: “I think, yeah, I have some very competent members of my family. My kids are very competent. I don't know that they're going to choose to go through this. They've been treated very badly.” 

- On his children’s future in politics: “I think [Donald Trump Jr. would] do well, especially in certain areas. I think he'd do very well. I think he's a very capable guy. Eric is very capable, and a very different type. Lara. You look at some of these people. Ivanka would be, if she wanted to be, would be a superstar in politics. I think she, she, she's a great person. I think she probably, she's so family-oriented, Ivanka, and I understand that also it makes it more difficult. It makes it definitely more difficult. But, you know, they're very capable people. Well, they have a name, which seems to be a very good name.”  

- On whether he thinks there will be a Trump dynasty: “I think there could be, yeah. I see the people we're talking about. Lara has been amazing. Look, she was the head of the Republican Party. She's a young, a young woman, and she was the head of the Republican Party. And look at the job we did.” 

Russia and Ukraine

- On how brokering a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine is trickier than he let on, Trump tells TIME: “The Middle East is an easier problem to handle than what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine…The numbers of dead young soldiers lying on fields all over the place are staggering. It’s crazy what’s taking place.”

- Trump criticizes Kyiv for launching U.S.-made missiles into Russian territory last month: “I disagree very -vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that?…We’re just escalating this war and making it worse.” 

- When pressed on whether or not he would abandon Ukraine, Trump says he would use U.S. support for Ukraine as leverage against Russia in negotiating an end to the war: “I want to reach an agreement…and the only way you’re going to reach an agreement is not to abandon.”

Israel and Gaza 

- On how, in phone calls during the campaign, he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to wind down the war in Gaza by the time of his Inauguration: “He knows I want it to end.” 

- When asked whether he trusts Netanyahu going into a second term, Trump takes a second before answering: “I don’t trust anybody.” 

Iran

- Asked about the chances of war with Iran, Trump pauses, then replies: “Anything can happen.” 

Department of Justice

- On whether his DOJ will target domestic political adversaries, Trump tells TIME that the decision will be left to Trump's attorney general nominee Pam Bondi if she’s confirmed: “That’s up to her.” 

Executive Power 

- On how he supports preserving the filibuster, which allows a minority in the Senate to block legislation. If that prevents the passage of bills through Congress, he says he will use executive action: “If I have even a little bit of trouble…I go to an Executive Order because I can get it done.”

His New Administration 

- On pressure to abandon his first choice to run the Justice Department, former Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, and how when it became clear the votes weren’t there, Trump tells TIME he told Gaetz: “Matt, I don’t think this is worth the fight.” 

- On how he will honor the Senate’s role in confirming or rejecting his appointments but does not rule out using recess appointments or installing acting agency heads to circumvent Senate approval: “I really don’t care how they get them approved…as long as they get them approved.” 

- When asked whether recess appointments are off the table, a senior Trump adviser tells TIME: “No…He’s not going to accept being d-cked around.” 

- On how he will not ask members of his Administration to sign a formal loyalty pledge, Trump tells TIME: “I think I will be able to, for the most part, determine who’s loyal.” 

- On how anyone who gets crosswise with him—from his own Cabinet secretaries and political appointees, but also civil servants who work in the Executive Branch—will be gone in short order: “If they’re not following my policies…absolutely.” 

- On how Trump and his aides are getting ready for an onslaught of lawsuits from outside groups, a Trump official tells TIME: “We’re constrained by realities of government and process in certain ways…but he’s gonna try to do big sh-t.” 

- On how to his closest aides, the President-elect’s unpredictable style will give him an edge over America’s competitors, Vance tells TIME: “People are genuinely afraid that if they don’t listen to him, bad things can happen, and there are consequences for disregarding him.” 

TIME names the 2024 Athlete, CEO and Icon of the Year :

Athlete of the Year - Caitlin Clark 

CEO of the Year - Lisa Su 

Icon of the Year - Elton John

The December 30, 2024, Person of the Year issue of TIME will be available on newsstands beginning Friday, December 20, and is available for purchase from Time.com. 

More on TIME.com:

--Fact-Checking What Donald Trump Said in His 2024 Person of the Year Interview with TIME.

--'There's Something Causing it.' Trump Draws False Link Between Vaccines and Autism in TIME Interview

--The story behind TIME's Donald Trump 2024 Person of the Year cover by Katherine Pomerantz.

--Behind the Scenes of TIME’s 2024 Person of the Year Issue

--Are Elected Presidents Always Person of the Year? By Lily Rothman 

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