Time Magazine has released its list of finalists for 2017's "Person of the Year" issue - and what a list it is.
After Trump criticized Time for informing him that he was in the running to win "Person of the Year" for the second year in a row - an honor last achieved by former President Richard Nixon, who was named man of the year in 1972 and 1973 - it appears Trump was right once again: He is one of 10 contenders for the honor released to MSNBC - even though editors at Time claimed the phone call never happened (though how else would Trump have known he was in the running, other than a lucky guess?
).The other names on the list are: Amazon CEO and world's richest man Jeff Bezos, the #MeToo movement, Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, Colin Kaepernick, the dreamers, Robert Mueller and Patty Jenkins (Jenkins directed the Hollywood blockbuster "Wonder Woman").
Of the names on this year's list, only Trump and Bezos have won the honor before (Bezos won it in 1999 at the height of the tech bubble.
The competition this year is pretty intense. If the criteria for winning was solely number of headlines in US media, Trump would easily have a lock. His first year in office was marked by the president's constant feuding with Democrats, Republicans, professional athletes, gold star families...the list goes on.
Kim Jong Un, one might argue, deserves the nod for the outsize impact he's had on the national psyche in the US, given that he's the leader of an impoverished nation of 25 million people.
However, in terms of sheer political influence, Xi Jinping would probably deserve the honor. By having his name written into the Chinese constitution and appointing a Politburo with no obvious successor, he has guaranteed himself another five year term after his current term ends. He has also consolidated power over a nation of 1.3 billion people - the largest country on the planet.
Bezos led Amazon through several high-profile acquisitions that saw the company enter the grocery business. The massive appreciation in Amazon's share price has also helped push Bezos's net worth north of $100 billion, making him the first American to reach that threshold since Bill Gates back in the late 1990s.
The #MeToo movement has led to unprecedented upheaval in industries - particularly in entertainment and media - as women have come forward to share their stories of sexual harassment they experienced at the hands of powerful men. Time has selected classes or groups of people for the honor before - back in 2014, "person of the year" went to the Ebola fighters.
MbS has orchestrated a "corruption crackdown" purge that brought his most powerful rivals to their knees. It is rumored that his father, King Salman, will soon step down, relinquishing power to the 32-year-old crown prince.
And finally, what list of anything is 2017 would be complete without Colin Kaepernick.
Should Trump win, he would become the eighth US president to win the honor twice. Time has been running the feature since 1927.
The winner will be named later this month, when the special "Person of the Year" edition of the magazine is released.
