One of the reasons Donald Trump wanted to be president of the USA is related to his love for the attributes of the position: recognition, submission, power. Just how great this love of his is, only God knows.

Speaking in percentage terms, as to how much love for these items accounts for in Trump’s overall desire to be president, estimates range from single digit rate (among his most ardent supporters, who believe his claims of his desire to offer to the public) to almost three-digit percentage (among the most skeptical). But it seems safe to assume it’s at least 50%.

On Thursday, recognition came for the president-elect. Time magazine named him “Person of the Year”. This is the 2nd time of its proclamation, which has a slight deviation from the first. Trump seems apparently pleased by this, with several posts on Truth Social and an appearance in the magazine announcement.

And it makes sense. The first time he was proclaimed was in 2016. That was the year he was elected president for the first time, which is no coincidence. As it turns out, Time’s “Person of the Year” has consistently named the winner of the presidential election in every election year this century. And often before him.

The magazine has been awarding this title for nearly a century. Since 1927, it has been deciding who (or later, what) deserves recognition as the most important factor or force for the year. He always has a preference for political figures – specifically male politicians (the title used to be “Man of the Year”) and even more specifically, white male politicians. Of the 103 winners over the past 97 years, more than a third were white male politicians, and that’s not counting the 13 winners (about 13 percent more) who were white men who had recently won the presidency.

The title has been awarded to concepts or groups more times than in women or non-white men.

Obviously, it’s fair to assume that the winner of the presidential election is someone who has a significant impact on the election year. It is not just the victory itself, but the months of preparation for the election and its outcome. It is a process that leads to much debate around the United States and the world.

However, Time magazine also has a financial interest, which has contributed to the increasingly diverse recipients of the title. Since 2002, excluding presidential winners, “Person of the Year” has been awarded to a white male politician only three times and to concepts or groups nine times – including the legendary victory of “You” in 2006. The winner of last year was Taylor Swift, someone whose dominance in the power domain is questionable, but whose ability of selling magazines is not.

One of the upsides of awarding the title to the winner of a presidential election is that you have tens of millions of people who have just expressed their support for that person with their votes—tens of millions of people who might be willing to spend some money to celebrate. their success and his.

There’s another reason why the title isn’t necessarily a sign of recognition, as Trump seems to think. The magazine’s penchant for picking the winner of presidential elections means that when Trump won in 2016 amid public outcry over his victory, it reinforced the fact that the selection was based on impact, not recognition. It was Trump, the magazine said at the time, “for better or for worse.” Trump’s victory this year was accompanied by an extensive interview with the president-elect — and an almost equally extensive correction of various questionable or clearly false claims he made in the interview.

Trump is now a two-time Person of the Year (in addition to his 2006 win for “You” and his win as a member of the 1966 baby boomer generation). That puts him in a tie with several recent presidents and several from the last century. It also ties Joseph Stalin’s score and puts him ahead of Adolf Hitler, who remains tied with Elon Musk and Taylor Swift with one win each.