And our person of the year is ...

... Elon Musk. It's not a prize but recognition of some facts.

When nominating a Person of the Year, the first challenge is always the same: people assume it’s a prize and bristle at the idea of miscreants being recognized. I still remember the uproar when Time Magazine named Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini Man of the Year in 1979 as he was holding dozens of Americans hostage and tanking the reelection campaign of Jimmy Carter (who died this week at 100). Time explained that the choice was about "impact," but the public wasn’t buying it. People figured there had to be a limit – surely they wouldn’t name Adolf Hitler Man of the Year? Well, yes they would, and did, in 1938 — a month after Kristallnacht. It’s an annoying paradigm, but I’ll stick with it: This title isn’t a prize, but about influence.

So if the available candidates include the unpleasant, the obvious choice for 2024 would be Donald Trump. He’s set to become the oldest president in US history if he completes his term, edging out Joe Biden, who’ll retire at a sprightly 82 and two months — five months younger than Trump will be if he finishes out his upcoming term.

Trump is also the first president to be reelected (albeit non-sequentially) despite felony convictions (34 of them) and impeachments (two). He’s the only president since World War II to reject the world order built by the US after that conflict — and he basically hates the US government. He rejects climate science, thinks tariffs are the “most beautiful word in the dictionary” (while not understanding how they work – he thinks “China pays”), and is uniquely unfit, ignorant, boorish, and dangerous. His return to the White House is a bone-crushing repudiation of what the Democrats put on the table (or what was perceived as such). Yet Trump might also bring great things. His impulsive nature could somehow lead to an end to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East (as we discussed here). Life is strange that way.

But Trump is too easy a choice. Our pick rises above the quotidian. Our Person of the Year is someone without whom Trump would probably not have been reelected at all: Elon Musk.

This ties into the signature trends of 2024: the rise of anti-liberalism and the backlash against perceived progressive ridiculousness.