Donald Trump isn’t happy Time magazine decided to choose someone else as its “Person of the Year.”
The magazine on Wednesday named German Chancellor Angela Merkel the recipient of its annual tradition. Trump was a runner-up, placing number three on the list.
Reacting to the news on Twitter, Trump said he knew Time “would never pick me as person of the year despite being the big favorite.” He added that Merkel is “ruining Germany.”
I told you @TIME Magazine would never pick me as person of the year despite being the big favorite They picked person who is ruining Germany
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2015
Explaining the magazine’s choice, Time’s Nancy Gibbs cited the German chancellor’s handling of the crisises facing the European continent this year.
“Each time Merkel stepped in,” Gibbs wrote. “Germany would bail Greece out, on her strict terms. It would welcome refugees as casualties of radical Islamist savagery, not carriers of it. And it would deploy troops abroad in the fight against ISIS. Germany has spent the past 70 years testing antidotes to its toxically nationalist, militarist, genocidal past. Merkel brandished a different set of values — humanity, generosity, tolerance—to demonstrate how Germany’s great strength could be used to save, rather than destroy.”
The magazine is far less enamored with Trump. “In times of trial and desperation, when institutions fail, insecurity mounts and need arises, even the most enlightened democratic states can turn inward and break against themselves.”