New York: President-elect Donald Trump rang the opening bell Thursday at the New York Stock Exchange after being recognised for the second time by Time magazine as its person of the year.
The honours for the businessman-turned-politician are a measure of Trump’s remarkable comeback from an ostracised former president who refused to accept his election loss four years ago to a president-elect who won the White House decisively in November.
Before he rang the opening bell at 9.30 am, a first for him, Trump spoke at the exchange and called it “a tremendous honour.”
“Time Magazine, getting this honour for the second time, I think I like it better this time actually,” he said.
Trump, accompanied by his wife, Melania Trump, daughters Ivanka and Tiffany and Vice President-elect JD Vance, grinned as people chanted “USA” before he rang the bell. He then raised his fist.
In his remarks, he talked up some of the people he has named to his incoming administration, including Treasury pick Scott Bessent, and some of his announced policies, including a promise this week that the federal government will issue expedited permits, including environmental approvals, for projects and construction worth more than USD 1 billion.
“I think we’re going to have a tremendous run. We have to straighten out some problems, some big problems in the world,” he said.
Sam Jacobs, Time’s editor in chief, announced on NBC’s “Today” show that Trump was Time’s 2024 Person of the Year. Jacobs said Trump was someone who “for better or for worse, had the most influence on the news in 2024.”
“This is someone who made an historic comeback, who reshaped the American presidency and who’s reordering American politics,” Jacobs said. “It’s hard to argue with the fact that the person who’s moving into the Oval Office is the most influential person in news.”
He added that “there’s always a hot debate” at the magazine over the honour, “although I have to admit that this year was an easier decision than years past.”
In an interview with the magazine published Thursday, Trump spoke about his final campaign blitz and election win.
“I called it ’72 Days of Fury,’” Trump said. “We hit the nerve of the country. The country was angry.”
Trump was on Wall Street to mark the ceremonial start of the day’s trading. The Time magazine cover featuring him was projected onto a wall at the stock exchange, flanked by American flags.
Trump took the stage at the exchange flanked by family members and members of his incoming administration while his favoured walk-on song, “God Bless the USA,” played.
Trump was also Time’s Person of the Year in 2016, when he was first elected to the White House. He was listed as a finalist for this year’s award alongside notables including Vice President Kamala Harris, X owner Elon Musk, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Kate, the Princess of Wales.
The NYSE regularly invites celebrities and business leaders to participate in the 9.30 am ceremonial opening trading. Thursday was Trump’s first time doing the honours, which have become a marker of culture and politics.
Last year, Time CEO Jessica Sibley rang the NYSE opening bell to unveil the magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year: Taylor Swift.
Trump has long had a fascination with being on the cover of Time, where he first made an appearance in 1989. He has falsely claimed to hold the record for cover appearances, and The Washington Post reported in 2017 that Trump had a fake picture of himself on the cover of the magazine hanging in several of his golf country clubs.
Earlier this year, Trump sat for interviews with the magazine for a story that ran in April. Time’s billionaire owner, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, criticised Trump’s Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, for not granting the magazine an interview.
“Despite multiple requests, Time has not been granted an interview with Kamala Harris—unlike every other Presidential candidate,” Benioff said in a post on X. “We believe in transparency and publish each interview in full. Why isn’t the Vice President engaging with the public on the same level?”
In his latest interview published Thursday, Trump reiterated that he’s going to pardon most of those convicted in riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. “It’s going to start in the first hour,” he said of the pardons. “Maybe the first nine minutes.”
Trump said he would not ask members of his administration to sign a loyalty pledge. “I think I will be able to, for the most part, determine who’s loyal,” he said. But he said he will fire anyone who doesn’t follow his policies.
On the war in Gaza, Trump said he wants to end the conflict and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows it. When Trump was asked whether he trusted Netanyahu, he told Time: “I don’t trust anybody.”
The incoming president also discussed his plans for mass deportations and argued he will have the authority to use the military to assist with the effort, even though, as the magazine notes, the Posse Comitatus Act forbids the deployment of the military against civilians.
“It doesn’t stop the military if it’s an invasion of our country,” he said. “I’ll only do what the law allows, but I will go up to the maximum level of what the law allows.”
Trump crafted his image as a wealthy real estate developer, which he played up as the star of the TV reality show “The Apprentice” and during his presidential campaign. He won the election in part by channelling Americans’ anxieties about the economy’s ability to provide for the middle class.
The larger business community has applauded his promises to reduce corporate taxes and cut regulations. But there are also concerns about his stated plans to impose broad tariffs and possibly target companies that he sees as not aligning with his own political interests.
The US stock market has historically tended to rise regardless of which party wins the White House, with Democrats scoring bigger average gains since 1945. But Republican control could mean big shifts in the winning and losing industries underneath the surface, and investors are adding to bets built earlier on what the higher tariffs, lower tax rates and lighter regulation that Trump favours will mean.
AP
