Trump says he can't imagine anyone but himself as Time Person of the Year

Framed portrait of President Donald Trump on the cover of a TIME Magazine and other magazine covers framed and hanging from a wall at the Trump National Doral Miami Golf Shop. Photo / Getty Images

President Donald Trump was asked by a reporter Tuesday about Time magazine's Person of the Year issue, which comes out every December.

And he had one answer for who should be Person of the Year: "Trump."

"I don't know, that is up to Time magazine," he said, noting that he had been given the distinction in 2016. "I can't imagine anybody else other than Trump, can you imagine anybody else other than Trump?"

President Donald Trump has had a years-long fascination with Time magazine. Photo / Getty Images

Trump has had a years-long fascination with Time magazine.

Last year he said he was told he was "probably" going to be given the Person of the Year distinction, but said he opted out because "probably is no good." The magazine disputed his account, but didn't give specifics.

In 2016, when he was named the Person of the Year after he won the presidency, he told reporters that it "means a lot," and that it he considered it a "very, very great honor."

But he has criticised the magazine's choices, too: in 2011, when it chose "The Protester," as the person of the year, and 2012, when Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. made the cover. That same year, Trump said Time had lost all its credibility when it didn't include him in its Top 100 most influential people.

A fake Time magazine image with Trump on the cover adorned the wall at one of his golf clubs in 2017.

"This cover - dated March 1, 2009 - looks like an impressive memento from Trump's pre-presidential career," The Post's David A. Fahrenthold reported. "But that wasn't true. The Time cover is a fake. There was no March 1, 2009, issue of Time magazine. And there was no issue at all in 2009 that had Trump on the cover."