Trump truly deserves to be 'Person of the Year'
Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM radio's daily program "The Dean Obeidallah Show" and a columnist for The Daily Beast. Follow him @deanofcomedy. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.
(CNN)Twitter exploded Friday night and into Saturday after Donald Trump alleged that he was offered Time magazine's title of "Person of the Year" and Time responded by challenging the President's account of events.
Trump tweeted that the magazine wanted him "to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot" before confirming he had won the award. Trump would have none of that, tweeting: "I said probably is no good and took a pass."
A short time later, however, Time responded on Twitter by challenging Trump's account, "The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year. Time does not comment on our choice until publication, which is December 6."
The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year. TIME does not comment on our choice until publication, which is December 6.208K people are talking about this
Hey, let's stop debating whether Time magazine formally offered this honor to Trump or not and get to the real issue. Time magazine executives, if you are reading this, Trump deserves to be "Person of the Year." Hell, Trump should get person of the decade, maybe even the millennium. And I say that as someone who has been a very (very) vocal critic of Trump.
You see, Trump is doing something as president that we have not seen in the modern era -- if ever. Most presidents seemingly work non-stop on the business of running the government. It's an acutely intense and stressful job which no doubt explains why presidents age so dramatically in office. But Trump doesn't just work at the business of government -- he does so, so much more.
First, there's Trump's tweeting. On average, Trump tweets six to seven times a day. We are talking over 2,000 tweets since he has been sworn in! And with Twitter now expanding its character limit from 140 characters to 280, that means going forward Trump has double the workload.
Plus, Trump just doesn't simply tweet and go back to focusing on policies like the GOP tax cut bill. No, he takes the time and effort to engage (aka fight) with people on Twitter. Be it calling out the commissioner of the NFL because he has "lost control" of the players who take a knee during the national anthem or calling LaVar Ball, the father of a UCLA basketball player recently released by China after alleged shoplifting, an "ungrateful fool" who is "a poor man's version of Don King, but without the hair."
Additionally, Trump has even exhausted his brain power to come up with nicknames for people he's slamming on Twitter. Who can forget "rocket man" for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un,"Frankenstien" (sic) for Democratic Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, or "Flake(y)" for GOP Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona? We didn't see President Barack Obama making that kind of effort on Twitter!
Comments