Trump claims rejecting Time’s ‘Person of the Year’
President says refused photo shoot, interview request from magazine; Time rejects claims
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Friday said he turned down being named Time’s “Person of the Year” after the magazine asked him for an interview AND photo shoot But DID not Confirm he would be chosen.
He tweeted: “Time Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named ‘Man (Person) of the Year,’ like last year, but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot.
“I said probably is no good and took a pass. Thanks anyway!”
Time responded on its own Twitter account: “The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year. TIME does not comment on our choice until publication, which is Dec.6.”
Former editor Richard Stengel went further, retweeting Trump’s tweet with the comment: “Hate to tell you but that PROBABLY means you’re NOT Person of the Year.
“They just wanted a photo shoot. But I’m sure you still have that fake TIME cover somewhere in storage.”
The magazine confers the distinction on the person who “for better or for worse... HAS Done THE most to Inluence the events of the year.”
Trump was named the magazine’s 2016 “Person of the Year” following his election, in an edition which carried the title “President of the Divided States of America.” The former real estate tycoon keeps a close eye on the award, and complained on Twitter in 2012, 2014 and 2015 about not being picked.
In June, The Washington Post revealed several of his golf clubs prominently display a framed copy of a fake Time cover featuring several positive headlines and Trump as its cover.
Since announcing his presidential run, Trump has had an antagonistic relationship with much of the US media, accusing critical outlets of peddling “fake news.”
Trump frequently brags about appearing on the cover of the iconic magazine. He has falsely claimed to hold the record for cover appearances.
Time’s Person of THE YEAR Is DEINED By the weekly as “a person (or people) who has HAD THE most Inluence over THE news In the last 12 months.” Awarded since 1927, the accolade has gone to a wide variety of people - even Adolf Hitler, in 1938, and Joseph Stalin, in 1939 and 1942. FINANCIAL WATCHDOG
Meanwhile, Trump on Friday appointed White House budget director MICK Mulvaney to HEAD A inancial watchdog that the administration has sought to overhaul as part of its deregulation push.
Mulvaney, who described the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) as a “sick, sad joke” in a 2014 interview, will serve as acting director until a permanent head is nominated AND Confirmed, ACCORDING to A WHITE House statement.
RICHARD Cordray, THE irst Director of the CFPB who had long been in the banking industry’s crosshairs, announced last week he would step down by the end of the month, several months early.
The Trump administration’s decision to appoint Mulvaney sparked some confusion over the interim CFPB leadership, as Cordray had already named Leandra English -- who was already part of the agency -- as his de facto successor by naming her deputy director.
That move came hours before Trump tapped Mulvaney as the regulator’s temporary leader.
Since the start of his presidency Trump HAS DECRIED inancial rules AND regulations, put in place through the 2010 Dodd-frank Wall Street reform legislation, to combat the excesses that LED to THE 2008 inancial Crisis.