Table of contents for December 19, 2016 in TIME Magazine

2016 PERSON OF THE YEAR The Choice BY NANCY GIBBS PAGE 42 Donald Trump BY MICHAEL SCHERER PAGE 46 PLUS: Europe's Populist Uprising BY SIMON SHUSTER PAGE 80 Lessons From Andrew Jackson BY JON MEACHAM PAGE 86 FROM THE EDITOR | 8 THE YEAR IN ... COVERS | 10 LETTERS | 14 QUOTES | 17 PHOTOS | 18 THINGS | 20 FIRSTS & LASTS | 23 HASHTAGS | 28 15 MINUTES OF FAME | 30 FEUDS | 34 FICTIONAL CHARACTERS | 36 IN THE ARENA | 39 Joe Klein's Teddy Awards The Short List No. 2 HILLARY CLINTON THE ASPIRANT BY CHARLOTTE ALTER 92 NO. 3 THE HACKERS THE DISRUPTERS BY MATT VELLA 102 NO. 4 RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN THE AUTOCRAT BY JARED MALSIN 106 NO. 5 THE CRISPR PIONEERS…

1 Harambe In 2016, everything was contentious. Even a Cincinnati Zoo worker's decision to shoot a gorilla who had grabbed an intrepid and athletically gifted toddler who scaled a wall and entered its enclosure. When some questioned whether killing Harambe was necessary, others mocked their grief by using hashtags like #DicksOutForHarambe. Weirdly, this was not discussed at any presidential debate. 2 Anthony Weiner Man, this dude loves to sext. Like, given the options of having his dream job, staying married, electing a President from his party and being able to appear in public or sexting, he would still choose sexting. In September, he got caught allegedly sexting with a 15-year-old, effectively making the documentary about his prior sexting scandals--released in May--totally outdated. As is, most likely, this paragraph. 3 Becky…

It isn't easy to bestow awards for political courage in an election year--and it's near impossible after a campaign like the one we've just experienced, which set a sad new standard for ugliness and mendacity. But as an eternal optimist, I proceed with my annual chore and will even say something nice about Donald Trump, who ran the most disgraceful presidential campaign that I can remember--but, in the course of which, took several positions athwart the traditions of the Republican Party. He supported gay rights and admitted that the war in Iraq was a mistake. Granted, these were positions that had long been obvious to a majority of Americans, but not to the GOP. He defied evangelicals on the gay-rights issue (and also in his support for Planned Parenthood) and…

Donald Trump met with his first foreign ally just a few days after winning the U.S. presidency. But it wasn't one of the world's leading statesmen who got the invitation to Trump Tower. It was Nigel Farage, a man once considered a footnote in British politics--but who, in 2016, found himself on the snug inside of one of history's hairpin turns. As the face of the United Kingdom Independence Party, a right-wing group on the fringe of British politics, Farage campaigned for 17 years for the U.K. to leave the European Union, styling himself as a "middle-class boy from Kent" who was not afraid to tell hard truths about the failures of the European project, from out-of-control immigration to the coddling of radical Islamism. On June 23, British balloters finally…

Hackers have a bad name everywhere, it seems, except in Silicon Valley, founded as it was on the virtues of creatively overcoming technical limits by any means. This tradition produced the likes of Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak and Mark Zuckerberg, who, on the eve of Facebook's initial public offering four years ago, lamented the "unfairly negative connotation" of the word. Hacking, he wrote, "just means building something quickly or testing the boundaries of what can be done. Like most things, it can be used for good or bad." This year will be remembered for the bad. Hardly a week passed without news of some kind of digital breach, somewhere in the world, often establishing some kind of record--for sheer scope, for novel tactics or for setting an ominous new precedent.…

Having problems is the human condition. But there is a particular complication that comes with being black in America. "Between me and the other world there is ever an unasked question," W.E.B. Du Bois wrote in his classic The Souls of Black Folk. "How does it feel to be a problem?" In 2016, Beyoncé, a pop star, chose to be a problem. This could not have been a light decision. An artist who rose to fame in the late 1990s as lead singer of the teen girl group Destiny's Child, she has since rocketed to the sort of first-name-only global superstardom that theoretically relieves her of the heaviest burdens of being a problem. Her brand seemed carefully crafted to speak to girl power more than to black power. Four years…

1. The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, FX This majestic dramatization of O.J. Simpson's 1995 murder trial made complex arguments about gender, race, class and celebrity with unparalleled confidence. The 10-episode miniseries was fair to its characters: all of them, from Simpson (Cuba Gooding Jr.) to widely mocked defender Johnnie Cochran (Courtney B. Vance) to hated prosecutor Marcia Clark (Sarah Paulson), get their humanity back. But it's relentless in showing their complicity in a system that, on many levels, failed to deliver justice. It's hard not to wish that, like the trial itself, this series could have gone on for months more. But the cohesive style throughout--complete with an ending rightly adopting the tones of Greek tragedy--makes a compelling case for the miniseries as TV's perfect form. 2.…

1. March: Book Three By John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell Congressman Lewis concludes his trilogy of graphic memoir with this volume about his civil rights activism. The comic book, which won the National Book Award for young people's literature (though it's for adults as well), covers everything from the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing to the emotional Inauguration of Barack Obama, conveying tragedies and setbacks with raw pain and dramatizing the behind-the-scenes work that made the Voting Rights Act possible. The powerful combination of words and images serves as a monument to the men and women who risked their lives to make the country a better place for all Americans. 2. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis By J.D. Vance The author pays…

1. Shuffle Along, or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed It was submerged by the Hamilton tidal wave, but in any other season George C. Wolfe's splashy, talent-packed re-creation of a landmark black musical of the 1920s (and the story of its creation and troubled aftermath) might have been the toast of Broadway. Part revival, part theater history, part backstage drama, the show was not only a tribute to the African-American contribution to the Broadway musical but also--thanks to an all-star team of performers like Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Billy Porter, as well as Savion Glover and his exuberant tap-dancing choreography--a showcase for the contemporary fruits of that grand tradition. Sadly, when a pregnant McDonald had to leave the cast early, the…

'Dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom.' Nigel Farage, pro-Brexit politician, celebrating the nation's vote to leave the European Union in June JANUARY "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters." Donald Trump, nine days before America's first state presidential contest FEBRUARY "This would be bad for America." Tim Cook, Apple CEO, refusing an FBI request to unlock the iPhone of a San Bernardino, Calif., shooter "Ms. Eisenstein, one question." Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court Justice, breaking a decade-long stretch of not speaking during oral arguments MARCH "What we feared has happened." Charles Michel, Belgian Prime Minister, after three coordinated suicide bombings "[This] is a story of government failure, intransigence, unpreparedness, delay, inaction and environmental injustice." Flint water advisory task…

FIRSTS JANUARY JAN 7 Campbell's Soup First major U.S. food company to announce it will label the genetically modified ingredients in its products JAN 11 Arlene Foster First woman elected First Minister of Northern Ireland FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL APR 4 California First U.S. state to raise the hourly minimum wage to $15 MAY MAY 2 Leicester City First British soccer club to win a Premier League title by beating 5,000-to-1 odds MAY 2 The Adonia First cruise ship to travel between the U.S. and Cuba in nearly 40 years JUNE JUNE 19 Cleveland Cavaliers First Cleveland team to win an NBA title, thanks in large part to Finals MVP LeBron James JULY JULY 26 Solar Impulse 2 First solar-powered aircraft to fly around the world AUGUST SEPTEMBER SEPT 14 Baylor…

Donald Trump vs. Megyn Kelly The President-elect repeatedly slammed the Fox News anchor after she asked him about his misogynistic comments during the first GOP primary debate, at one point suggesting there was "blood coming out of her wherever." Kelly hit back, then later persuaded Trump to sit for an interview on her first prime-time TV special. WINNER: DRAW Taylor Swift vs. Calvin Harris After reports surfaced that Swift had co-written Harris' hit song "This Is What You Came For," the DJ slammed his ex-girlfriend on Twitter, suggesting she had leaked the news in an effort to "bury" him. Swift later covered the song during a concert, and Harris said he felt "blessed" to have worked with her. WINNER: SWIFT Mike Pence vs. Hamilton The Vice President--elect was booed while…

It was dusk on Monday, Sept. 3, 1827, when the party from South Carolina drew up at the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's plantation near Nashville. One of the travelers, a young woman named Julia Ann Conner, left a diary account of her surprise at finding that Jackson, whom she had expected to be a wild backwoodsman with a dictatorial bent that led his opponents to call him an American Bonaparte, was in fact nothing of the sort. He was, she recorded, a "venerable, dignified, fine-looking man, perfectly easy in manner." The Hermitage was filled with history. A brace of pistols that the Marquis de Lafayette had given to George Washington were on the mantelpiece, a gift to Jackson from the Washington family. "They are preserved with almost sacred veneration," as was…

When a rogue faction of Turkey's military moved to seize control of the country on the night of July 15, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on vacation in the Mediterranean city of Marmaris. Alerted to the coup attempt, he escaped his hotel just ahead of commandos sent to capture or possibly kill him, clinging to power by a thread. Yet in response he flew not to the capital, Ankara, where warplanes were bombing the parliament building, but to Istanbul, where he had come of age and begun his career in politics, and is still remembered as the mayor who brought running water to the city's slums. The capital was slightly closer and contained the levers of power that the putschists scrambled to control. But Erdogan placed his bet on the…

1. Moonlight A love story, a mother-and-son story, a story about being closed off from the world until you realize there's no way forward unless you join it. Barry Jenkins' Moonlight engages on multiple levels, but it's also a work of astonishing delicacy, a picture that sweeps you up like a wave and drops you, gently, in a place you never expected to be. Three marvelous actors play a single character, Chiron, at various stages in his life--from his youth in Miami to his adulthood as a street-toughened drug dealer--but the picture boasts an off-the-charts number of superb supporting performances too, from the likes of André Holland, Naomie Harris, Mahershala Ali and Janelle Monáe. Every small, enveloping detail counts in this rapturous picture. 2. Paterson Adam Driver gives a wondrous…

1. 'Fish Out of Water,' BoJack Horseman, Netflix An animated series about a talking horse ended up delivering the year's most heartening, artful surprise. The surrealities here only begin with the fact that the titular BoJack (Will Arnett) is a depressed equine movie actor; the undersea film festival BoJack is contractually obligated to attend in this episode executes Hollywood satire with astounding visual flair. Underwater, BoJack's inability to communicate with anyone is literal--the episode, thanks to his restricting diving helmet, is practically a silent film--and his attempts at forming a nonverbal connection with abandoned sea-horse babies provides only temporary distraction. This episode is a perceptive, painful look at what it's really like to confront regrets. It's also among the most creative TV installments in memory. 2. 'Toast Can't Never Be…

1. Frank Ocean, Blonde Frank Ocean has become pop music's leading ascetic, a less-is-more devotee who'd rather let his melodies do all the talking. Released after four years of increasingly interminable when-will-it-drop hype, Blonde finds Ocean leaving behind the rich arrangements and narratives of 2012's Channel Orange in favor of radical simplicity: little percussion, unobtrusive guest stars, lyrics that are both stunning and opaque. "Nights" is a multipart suite--like Ocean's previous "Pyramids"--given an acid bath and stripped to spare parts. "Solo" and "Godspeed" are breathtaking modern hymns. (They're queer too, and so deeply felt that they make a song like Channel Orange's "Forrest Gump" sound cloying.) If that album made Ocean a star, Blonde confirms that he's a singular one. 2. Solange, A Seat at the Table Solange enlisted her…

2 'Take it out in 4 years and read it again! Just watch ...' Donald Trump, responding on Twitter to David Von Drehle's Jan. 18 cover story about the GOP primary race, headlined "How Trump Won" 4 'Wonderful piece exposing willful wrongdoing at the highest state level for greed and profit.' Tom Svoboda of Alsip, Ill., on Josh Sanburn's Feb. 1 special report about the water crisis in Flint, Mich. 8 'As a widow looking for a nice guy who drives at night, the new technology could offer me some new prospects!' Suzy Heller Curtis of West Bloomfield, Mich., on self-driving cars, the subject of Matt Vella's March 7 cover story 22 'Don't ever back down from a fight that you know is for something worth fighting for, even if…

JANUARY #OSCARSSOWHITE Popularized (again) to protest the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which for the second year in a row nominated only white actors in major categories MARCH #IKWILHELPEN Used by people in Brussels to find and offer housing and car rides after three deadly terrorist attacks APRIL #THISFLAG Started by a Zimbabwean pastor to share frustrations with his country's leadership; thousands followed suit JUNE #ISTANDWITHHATESPEECH Popularized to slam Facebook, Twitter and other sites for censoring comments flagged as hateful JUNE #NOWOMANEVER Popularized by women all over the world, who used sarcasm and wit to condemn street harassment JUNE #LOVEISLOVE Shared by millions to uplift the LGBT community after the shooting at Orlando's Pulse nightclub AUGUST #ILLWALKWITHYOU Took off as people offered to walk alongside Muslims to and…

1 Pepe the Frog The fringe comic character, created by artist Matt Furie in 2005, was already a popular Internet meme. But this year Pepe became ubiquitous as the mascot of the alt right movement, which used him in racist, profane social-media posts. In September, the Anti-Defamation League officially declared Pepe a "hate symbol." 2 Barbie The 57-year-old doll, long identified by her impossibly lithe physique, reinvented herself in 2016, when Mattel introduced several new body types (including curvy and petite) in an effort to boost sales--and to set a more inclusive beauty standard for Barbie's millions of young female fans. 3 Deadpool Ryan Reynolds' obscene superhero brought flair, irony and rudeness to the corny, earnest world of comic-book movies, breathing new life into a tired genre. Audiences were…

Winners get to write history. Losers, if they are lucky, get a ballad. Hillary Clinton made history for three decades as an advocate, a First Lady, a Senator, and a Secretary of State, but she will now be remembered as much for what she didn't do as what she did. A female candidate in an election that didn't hinge on gender after all, she became a symbol in a fight that was about much more than symbolism. She's the woman who was almost President, she is what might have been and what will yet be. In the autopsy of the doomed Clinton campaign, there is no shortage of fatal causes. Expectations certainly missed their target: the race between the first plausible female presidential candidate and a man who bragged about…

Dr. Carl June's lab at the University of Pennsylvania looks like any other biology research hub. There are tidy rows of black-topped workbenches flanked by shelves bearing boxes of pipettes and test tubes. There's ad hoc signage marking the different workstations. And there are postdocs buzzing around, calibrating scales, checking incubators and smearing solutions and samples onto small glass slides. Appearances aside, what June is attempting to do here, on the eighth floor of the glass-encased Smilow Center for Translational Research in Philadelphia, is anything but ordinary. He's built a career trying to improve the odds for people with intractable end-stage disease, and now, in the university's brand-new cell-processing lab, he's preparing to launch his most ambitious study yet: he's going to try to treat 18 people with stubborn cancers,…

1. Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes, Moonlight It's cheating, sure, to wedge three actors into one "best" slot. But in Moonlight, the performances of Hibbert, Sanders and Rhodes--all playing one character at different stages of life--are so spiritually intertwined that they practically merge into one soul. Hibbert's Little is a spring green leaf of self-sufficiency and resilience. Sanders' Chiron, as narrow and watchful as a whippet, perches cautiously between self-protection and tenderness. And Rhodes' Black, the bulked-up grownup, hides behind layers of muscle. The slow burn of his smile, when he finally cracks one, hits like the final movement of Beethoven's Ninth--the thing you'd waited for without knowing you were waiting. 2. Ruth Negga, Loving As Mildred Loving--who with her husband Richard fought for the right to be…

1. The Underground Railroad By Colson Whitehead In this reimagining of American history, the Underground Railroad is a literal one. After Cora, a slave on a Georgia plantation, is beaten and raped by her master, she flees north, encountering more peril along the way. Although the setting is surreal, the characters are grounded in the harsh reality of African-American history, toiling ever harder for survival even as the promise of freedom looms around the bend. Whitehead's novel has earned well-deserved praise across the board, from being selected for Oprah's Book Club to winning the National Book Award for fiction; as America's first black President leaves office, its narrative power will continue to reverberate in the new year. 2. Another Brooklyn By Jacqueline Woodson Four young women growing up in 1970s…

1. Beyoncé, 'Formation' Where do you start with "Formation"? It's an unapologetic, specific document of black womanhood for a nation struggling with systemic racism. It's the perfect epilogue for Lemonade, the "visual album" that mined Beyoncé's personal life for high drama and reinforced her complete command of her medium. It was the foundation for a world tour and the centerpiece of the most entertaining Super Bowl halftime show since--well, since the last time she graced that stage. So maybe you start here: it's the boldest, most subversive song she's ever made, a banger sturdy enough to bear all that cultural weight. 2. The 1975, 'The Sound' The 1975 approach rock stardom like a gang of freshman philosophy majors--they're pretentious and proud. "The Sound" is their best song yet, gleaming pop-disco…