Dec 08, 2016 12:09 PM EST
With his polarizing statements from the beginning of the campaign trail, his unexpected victory over Hillary Clinton and his unconventional choices for cabinet posts and heated statements after winning the election, President-elect Donald Trump has had immense media exposure this year and the editors of Time thought it best to give him the honor of being the magazine's Person of the Year.
Mr. Trump's victory in last month's election saw popular outrage and even led to violent riots across the country. His campaign battle cry, "Make America great again!" Was countered by protesters with, "Make America think again!" Fitting, Time ran their cover with the headline, "Donald Trump: President of the Divided States of America."
The 90-year-old magazine have long recognized men and women, who "for better or for worse ... has done the most to influence the events of the year." President-elect Trump joins the diverse roster of world leaders that include Russia's Vladimir Putin, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Ayatollah Khomeini, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Pres. Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel among others.
Time's editor-in-chief, Nancy Gibbs said that there was no argument that the President-elect has had great influence in this year's events, the question is if that's an influence for better or worse and as expected, the country disagrees on the answer.
In an interview for the magazine cover, the billionaire, Mr. Trump said that despite his wealth, the common man can identify with him because he wasn't a phony. Further saying that there have been wealthy politicians before who had to act and bend over backwards so that people can identify with them.
The President-elect's unexpected victory was because of the majority of middle and working classes that have had enough of the system and saw in Mr. Trump as the "new deal".
When asked how he felt about his election, Donald Trump said it was "a very humbling experience".
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