How not to congratulate someone after they have won an award

At the Grammarly blog on April 2, 2019 Kelly Konya posted about How to congratulate someone in every stage of life. She said to start strong, be personal, and end with a heartfelt closing.

Recently TIME magazine published their year-end double issue for December 23 and 30, with a cover just showing their pick for Person of the Year. They chose the sixteen-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. But starting on page 74 there was an article titled PORTRAITS OF INFLUENCE – Six leaders who shaped the world in 2019. They were Xi Jinping, Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi, Narendra Modi, Jacinda Ardern, and Emmanuel Macron.  

President Trump’s reaction to this year’s award was to ungraciously tweet:

“So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill, Greta, Chill!

Media reaction was appropriately caustic. Headlines of articles at CNN, The Guardian, and Business Insider  were: We should all be appalled by Donald Trump’s tweet about Greta Thunberg, Why is the president of the United States cyberbullying a 16-year-old girl?, and White House says Trump’s attacks on 16-year-old Greta Thunberg are fair game because she’s an ‘activist,’ while mention of the first couple’s 13-year-old son should be off-limits.

TIME has picked a Person [originally Man of the Year] since 1927. Almost all the U.S. Presidents have been picked at least once, except Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Gerald Ford. Donald Trump won in 2016. But the last three before him, Obama, Bush, and Clinton won twice.

Apparently Trump felt entitled to a second win. Perhaps he didn’t get it because he previously had messed with TIME’s brand. On June 27, 2017 there was an article in the Washington Post titled A Time magazine with Trump on the cover hangs in his golf clubs around the world. It’s fake.

The caricature of Donald Trump was modified from this one by DonkeyHotey at Wikimedia Commons.