NFL star Colin Kaepernick, Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins, the #MeToo movement, and yes, President Donald J. Trump, have all been named finalists for TIME‘s 2017 Person of the Year.
Kaepernick, of course, launched a national protest against racism and police brutality by taking a knee during the national anthem, a protest which has sustained attacks from low-key racists to white supremacists to the President of the United States.
Jenkins became the first woman to direct a film that made more than $US100 million in its opening weekend, and has already signed on to direct the highly anticipated sequel. She’s also responsible for the only DC Extended Universe film that hasn’t sucked balls.
The #MeToo movement, started in the wake of the sexual harassment and assault scandals that have rocked Hollywood and beyond, highlighted and gave voice to the dangers almost every single woman has experienced simply for trying to move through the world.
And Trump? He tweeted a bunch, possibly broke a few federal laws, failed to pass any meaningful piece of legislation aside from a devastating tax bill in the middle of the night, and sent the United State’s reputation straight into the toilet.
Here’s what TIME had to say about him:
President Trump, who was named 2016 Person of the Year, has spent his first year in the Oval Office attempting to dismantle the work of the Obama Administration, from health care to immigration policy, environmental regulations to tax reform, all while continuing to spark feuds and controversy with an unfiltered Twitter feed.
Not a lot of achievements, there. Sure, we talk about him, but as a known attention seeker that’s all he’s really good for.
Others named as finalists for the 2017 Person of the Year include Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the children of undocumented immigrants known as The Dreamers, North Korea leader Kim Jong-un, special counsel Robert Mueller, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and President of China Xi Jinping.
If the #MeToo movement wins, it won’t be the first time TIME’s Person of the Year hasn’t actually been a person. In 1982 it was the computer (and was named ‘Machine of the Year‘), and in 1998 it was ‘Endangered Earth‘ for ‘Planet of the Year‘ (suck shit, Jupiter).
There’s also the time it chose ‘You‘, in 2006, to represent the “individual content creators on the World Wide Web”, and ‘The Protester’ in 2011, marking several movements including the Arab Spring, the Occupy Movement and protests across Chile, Greece, India and Russia.
And it’s not meant to be an accolade, necessarily: it’s a person, a group, an idea or an object that “for better or for worse… has done the most to influence the events of the year.”
Ugh. If Trump gets it two years running, he will never, ever shut up about it.
This thing gets announced in the coming days, so prepare for the tweet-storm.
