Donald Trump is Time Person of the Year (again) - but Twitter's alternative picks are way better

US president-elect Donald Trump has been chosen as Time’s ‘Person of the Year’ – a title given to someone who “for better or worse” has done “the most to shape the world and the headlines” over the past year - for the second time, with the magazine arguing that we are “witnessing his apotheosis” (that means ‘climax’, essentially) and “living in the Age of Trump”.

In an article detailing Time’s decision to give the 2024 title to the Republican politician, its editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs wrote: “Today, we are witnessing a resurgence of populism, a widening mistrust in the institutions that defined the last century, and an eroding faith that liberal values will lead to better lives for most people. Trump is both agent and beneficiary of it all.

“For marshalling 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 comparison, Trump was named as Person of the Year in 2016 for “reminding America that demagoguery feeds on despair and that truth is only as powerful as the trust in those who speak it, for empowering a hidden electorate by mainstreaming its furies and live-streaming its fears, and for framing tomorrow’s political culture by demolishing yesterday’s”.

Unsurprisingly, the decision has been just as divisive as the convicted felon’s victory in last month’s presidential election, and has seen people – both seriously and less seriously – offer up their own alternatives online:

One suggested giving it to a late, beloved Trump critic:

There were fictional suggestions, too:

But many have said the title should have gone to Gisèle Pélicot, the 72-year-old woman from France who made headlines this year over a trial in which 50 men stand accused of raping her while unconscious over a decade, with husband Dominique admitting that he drugged his wife and invited strangers to their house to sexually assault her.

Ms Pelicot has received widespread praise for her comments amid the court case, which has seen her express a “will and determination to change society” and state that she does not want women who have been raped “to be ashamed any longer”.

The New European has even chosen her as their Person of the Year, in a stark contrast to Time, who picked a man found liable for sexual abuse in May last year:

Elsewhere, Donald Trump Jr has been condemned for celebrating the news of his father’s nomination by posting a video to Instagram in which 2022 pick and Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is kicked off the cover before Trump dances into view:

It’s not the first time that Trump Jr has taken a swipe at Zelensky, as just days after Trump Sr’s win in the presidential election, he reshared a video from former Alaska governor Sarah Palin showing the political leader looking pensive.

“POV: You’re 38 days from losing your allowance,” the caption read.

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