President Donald Trump turned down the opportunity to be TIME’s Person of the Year, revealing that the magazine editors offered him the chance to participate.
“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,” he said. “I said probably is no good and took a pass. Thanks anyway!”
Trump was TIME’s Person of the Year in 2016, after beating Hillary Clinton in the presidential election.
Although it is unlikely that TIME would name Trump the Person of the Year in back to back years, it appears they wanted to include him as a possible candidate as long as he would agree to a photo shoot and an interview. There has never been a back to back single Person of the Year.
Trump, it seems, did not want to spend the time doing a photoshoot if it was unlikely that he would win, and so he preemptively canned it.