TIME's Person Of The Year Finalists Draw Ire

TIME magazine is once again courting controversy with its person of the year award. The finalists were announced early Dec. 10 and include both Donald Trump and the racial justice movement, to the chagrin of their respective political opponents.

The other two finalists were president-elect Joe Biden and a combined award to Dr. Anthony Fauci and frontline health care workers. The announcement was met with outrage from conservatives decrying perceived liberal bias and liberals furious that Donald Trump would be nominated as the daily death toll from COVID-19 passes 3,000.

It’s worth noting that TIME’s person of the year isn’t necessarily an endorsement from the magazine, simply the acknowledgment that that person had an outsized impact that year.

Frontline health care workers are the popular favorite, having won a reader poll three days earlier. The only top pick not to make it into the finalists were firefighters, who repeatedly battled historic blazes across the Western U.S. this year.

Further discourse resulted from MSNBC’s finalist coverage, in which a picture of George Floyd was used to represent the racial justice movement without actually using his name. Some wondered why there was room for "Anthony Fauci and frontline healthcare workers" but not "George Floyd and the Racial Justice Movement." George Floyd was not nominated for the award.

Others questioned if many of the finalists deserved the title.

Other commentators simply seemed tired after a long year question why so many people cared about the magazine’s selection in the first place.

The final winner is expected to be announced sometime tonight.