Former CNN host Don Lemon joined numerous critics in slamming Time journal for making President-elect Donald Trump 2024’s “Individual of the Yr,” arguing Thursday on “The Don Lemon Present” that they need to’ve picked somebody “who stands for democracy.”
“Simply since you are elected president of the US doesn’t imply that you need to be ‘Individual of the Yr,’” he said. “Time journal, what are you doing? Let me ask you … what would you say to these girls who I suppose nonetheless learn Time journal?”
“You’ve gotten somebody on the quilt of your journal who’s an adjudicated assaulter,” Lemon continued. Trump was discovered liable in 2023 by a New York Metropolis jury for sexually abusing creator E. Jean Carroll and for defaming her in his statements after Carroll went public in 2019 with claims that Trump raped her within the Nineties.
“You’ve gotten somebody who impressed an rebellion,” Lemon mentioned in reference to the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol by Trump supporters. “We’ve got somebody who, indubitably, the proof is there, tried to overturn a free and truthful election.”
“And also you title them ‘Individual of the Yr,’” he added.
Time’s “Individual of the Yr” title is notably not an endorsement, as earlier recipients embody dictators Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, however an acknowledgment of how influential the particular person is. Time editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs defined as a lot on tv Thursday amid outcries on social media.
“Is that this a joke?” Lemon nonetheless requested on his present. “Did we get one thing flawed? Did somebody rip-off us? Are we positive about this, producers? There’s a convicted felon on the quilt of Time journal because the ‘Individual of the Yr.’ Perhaps we’re being scammed.”
Trump was convicted earlier this 12 months on 34 expenses of falsifying enterprise paperwork forward of the 2016 presidential election to cowl up his alleged sexual relations with a porn star. Trump had pleaded not responsible to all expenses.
His Nov. 26 sentencing listening to was canceled after the election final month.
Jacobs said Thursday on “Morning Joe” that the selection to call Trump “Individual of the Yr” was “apparent,” exactly due to these historic moments — together with the assassination try in opposition to Trump in July — and posited that “we live within the Age of Trump.”
“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 position on the earth, Donald Trump is Time’s 2024 Individual of the Yr,” he wrote in an article Thursday.
Trump slammed Time as passé in 2013 however lauded it after he first received the title in 2016.
