Former CNN host Don Lemon joined countless critics in mocking Time magazine for making President-elect Donald Trump 2024’s “Person of the Year,” arguing Thursday on “The Don Lemon Show” that they should have chosen someone who “represents democracy.”
“Just because you were elected president of the United States doesn’t mean you have to be ‘Person of the Year,'” he said. “Time magazine, what are you doing? Let me ask you… what would you say to those women who I guess still read Time magazine?”
“You have someone on the cover of your magazine who is a convicted murderer,” Lemon continued. Trump was found guilty in 2023 by a New York City jury of raping author E. Jean Carroll and defaming her in her statements after Carroll came out in 2019 with allegations that Trump raped her in the 1990s.
“You have somebody who inspired the violence,” Lemon said in reference to the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters. “We have someone, without a doubt, the evidence is there, who tried to subvert a free election.”
“And you name them ‘Person of the Year,'” he added.
Trump rang the opening bell on Thursday at the New York Stock Exchange. Spencer Platt via Getty Images
Time’s “Person of the Year” title is not an endorsement, as past recipients include dictators Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, but an acknowledgment of how powerful a person is. Times editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs explained the details on television Thursday amid an outcry on social media.
“Is this a joke?” Lemon however asked on his show. “Did we do something wrong? Did someone steal from us? Are we sure about it, developers? There is a convicted felon on the cover of Time magazine as ‘Person of the Year.’ Maybe we are being cheated.”
Trump was convicted earlier this year on 34 counts of falsifying business documents ahead of the 2016 presidential election to cover up his sexual relationship with a porn star. Trump had denied the charges against him.
His November 26 ruling was overturned after last month’s election.
Jacobs said Thursday on “Morning Joe” that the decision to name Trump “Person of the Year” was “obvious,” because of historical events — including the assassination attempt on Trump in July — and said that “we’re living in a world.” The age of Trump. “
“For making a historic comeback, a once-in-a-generation political movement, reforming America’s leadership and changing America’s role in the world, Donald Trump is the Person of the Year 2024,” he wrote. article Thursday.
Trump slammed Time as a pass in 2013 but praised it after first receiving the title in 2016.