Washington: November 26, 2017 ✉️

The President’s Thanksgiving break has been dominated not by the challenges of international relations or tax legislation, but by whether the President was to be a Time Person of the Year.

Trump’s lack of attention to detail is well known. So it is to be hoped that General Kelly too has overcome his ability to ignore uncomfortable historical details and point out that it features and profiles 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”.

And so Trump would join such previous “winners” as Joseph Stalin (twice) and Adolf Hitler. He may also ponder a desire to join a list that includes Pierre Laval who was later shot for treason.

But perhaps Trump was wiser than we think in knocking back Time. He was clearly channeling Groucho Marx:

“I sent the club a wire stating, PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON’T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT ME AS A MEMBER.”