Prominent German news magazine Der Spiegel on Thursday named President Trump its “loser of the year,” the same day Time magazine named President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris its “Person of the Year.”
In an article titled “Der Verlierer des Jahres,” which translates as “The Loser of the Year,” the publication’s Washington bureau chief Roland Nelles and Berlin-based correspondent Ralf Neukirch described Trump as “a man who … was never concerned with the common good, but always with one thing — himself.”
“Nothing is normal under Trump,” the article added. “He refuses to admit defeat. Instead, he speaks of massive electoral fraud, although there is no evidence for it. The whole thing is not surprising. Trump’s presidency ends as it began. Without decency and without dignity.”
While several major news outlets declared Biden the projected winner of the election on Nov. 7, Trump has since refused to concede, repeating unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud as part of a Democratic attempt to steal the election from him.
Since the election, Trump’s legal team has launched a multistate legal battle challenging election results and claiming voting irregularities. Several of these lawsuits have been thrown out by courts, citing a lack of evidence.
The article came as Time published its selection of Biden and Harris as their top people of the year Thursday evening, noting the challenges facing the duo as they take on rapid coronavirus surges across the country, as well as Harris’s historic win as the first African American, first woman and first South Asian American to serve as vice president.
Germans have consistently shown unfavorable views of Trump, with a January poll from the Pew Research Center showing that roughly 3 in 4 or more lacked confidence in the American president in Germany, a view shared by people in Sweden, France, Spain and the Netherlands.
Trump previously vied for Time’s “Person of the Year” title before receiving it himself in 2016, writing the year prior when German Chancellor Angela Merkel received the recognition that Merkel was “ruining Germany.”
“I told you @TIME Magazine would never pick me as person of the year despite being the big favorite,” he wrote in 2015.
