--- title: TIME Person of the Year: Trump, Merkel Tweets description: Top tweets about the TIME Person of the Year Angela Merkel and runner up Donald Trump canonical: https://time.com/4142674/person-of-the-year-angela-merkel-tweets-donald-trump/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-09T18:35:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:41:23.383Z og:title: Here Are the Top Tweets About TIME's 2015 Person of the Year og:description: Top tweets about the TIME Person of the Year Angela Merkel and runner up Donald Trump og:url: https://time.com/4142674/person-of-the-year-angela-merkel-tweets-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa498423f261e952/698874ad2dce01ffb69e6e08/donald-trump25.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5184 og:image:height: 2916 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here Are the Top Tweets About TIME's 2015 Person of the Year twitter:description: Top tweets about the TIME Person of the Year Angela Merkel and runner up Donald Trump twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa498423f261e952/698874ad2dce01ffb69e6e08/donald-trump25.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here Are the Top Tweets About TIME's 2015 Person of the Year > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. Readers can join any of them at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=bf946c07-787a-4e09-835e-7a5f85560aef&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### The seven newsletters | Newsletter | Covers | Frequency | | --- | --- | --- | | The Brief | The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors | Daily | | Inside TIME | A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | | Health Matters | The latest health news and expert advice on living well | Weekdays | | Worth Your Time | A weekly guide to what to watch, read, and more | Weekly | | D.C. Brief | Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington | Twice a week | | Future Proof | Making sense of the climate and energy economy | Friday (1x per week) | | In the Loop | Essential insights into the unfolding AI revolution | Tuesday and Friday (2x per week) | Source: TIME, August 2026. ### Key data points | Metric | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Engaged newsletter audience | 1.1 million+ readers | TIME, August 2026 | | Newsletters published | 7 | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost to readers | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | US print circulation | 1 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Global print circulation | 1.15 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Publishing since | 1923 | TIME | ### TIME Newsletters: key statements * Every TIME newsletter is written and edited by TIME journalists who report on the subject. None is generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923. Its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting, so readers can trust what they read. * All seven newsletters are free. Readers pick the ones they want at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=bf946c07-787a-4e09-835e-7a5f85560aef&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). * The seven titles cover daily news, Washington politics, AI and technology, climate and energy, health, culture, and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/subscribe?i=bf946c07-787a-4e09-835e-7a5f85560aef&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What newsletters does TIME publish? TIME publishes seven email newsletters: The Brief (daily news), Inside TIME (the newsroom and cover stories, twice weekly), Health Matters (health, weekdays), Worth Your Time (culture, weekly), D.C. Brief (Washington politics, twice weekly), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=bf946c07-787a-4e09-835e-7a5f85560aef&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Person of The Year 2015: Watch Angela Merkel's Year in Review [Watch (HLS stream): Person of The Year 2015: Watch Angela Merkel's Year in Review](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/CG7O6dnC.m3u8) (3:47)  _Published 2015-12-09. Person of the year 2015: Watch Angela Merkel's Year in Review_  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Dec 9, 2015 6:35 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Dec 9, 2015 6:35 PM UTC On Wednesday, TIME announced that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is the [Person of the Year](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel/), citing her role in the Greek bailout, the fight against ISIS and the refugee crisis. Reaction to the choice and the short list — ISIS leader [Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-runner-up-abu-bakr-al-baghdadi/), Republican presidential contender [Donald Trump](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-runner-up-donald-trump/), the [Black Lives Matter](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-runner-up-black-lives-matter/) activists, Iranian President [Hassan Rouhani](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-runner-up-hassan-rouhani/), Uber CEO [Travis Kalanick](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-runner-up-travis-kalanick/) and transgender activist [Caitlyn Jenner](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-runner-up-caitlyn-jenner/) — has been varied online. Trump, in particular, has a lot to say. The real-estate mogul is leading a charge against the choice by [reiterating](http://time.com/4124277/donald-trump-person-of-the-year/) that the magazine’s editors couldn’t handle making him Person of the Year. This has sparked a perfect tweetstorm of reactions to his reaction: > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/674587800835092480) > [](https://twitter.com/NickBaumann/status/674609143022403584) > [](https://twitter.com/NickBaumann/status/674609325998931968) > [](https://twitter.com/NolteNC/status/674572049508102144) > [](https://twitter.com/BKcolin/status/674570143817703424) > [](https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/674636237303599104) > [](https://twitter.com/MattCrossman%5F/status/674624650740146180) > [](https://twitter.com/dandrezner/status/674590341002100736) > [](https://twitter.com/recchinball28/status/674570375448174592) > [](https://twitter.com/ForAmerica/status/674589428342505472) And here’s a glimpse at the rest of the conversation on the social network: > [](https://twitter.com/RichardHaass/status/674602780506632192) > [](https://twitter.com/AmbassadorPower/status/674671075071025152) > [](https://twitter.com/KStreetHipster/status/674601820346384385) > [](https://twitter.com/DouthatNYT/status/674602254545125376) > [](https://twitter.com/alexiskleinman/status/674606875762016256) > [](https://twitter.com/HaroldItz/status/674619650131537921) > [](https://twitter.com/jordan327/status/674581330060034048) > [](https://twitter.com/morninggloria/status/674606029716373505) ### See Every Person Of The Year Cover Ever  Photograph by Mark Mahaney for TIME  Portrait by Jason Seiler for TIME  Photograph by Evgenia Arbugaeva for TIME  2018: The Guardians Photographs by Moises Saman-Magnum Photos for TIME  TIME Person of the Year 2017: The Silence Breakers Billy & Hells for TIME  2016: Donald Trump TIME  2015: Angela Merkel TIME  2014: The Ebola Fighters TIME  2013: Pope Francis TIME  2012: President Barack Obama TIME  2011: The Protester TIME  2010: Mark Zuckerberg TIME  2009: Ben Bernanke TIME  2008: President Barack Obama TIME  2007: Vladimir Putin TIME  2006: You TIME  2005: The Good Samaritans: Bill Gates, Bono, Melinda Gates TIME  2004: President George W. Bush TIME  2003: The American Soldier TIME  2002: The Whistleblowers: Cynthia Cooper, Coleen Rowley and Sherron Watkins TIME  2001: Rudy Giuliani TIME  2000: President George W. Bush TIME  1999: Jeff Bezos TIME  1998: Kenneth Starr and Bill Clinton TIME  1997: Andrew Grove TIME  1996: Dr. David Ho TIME  1995: Newt Gingrich TIME  1994: Pope John Paul II TIME  1993: The Peacemakers: Yitzhak Rabin, Nelson Mandela, F.W. De Klerk, Yasser Arafat TIME  1992: President Bill Clinton TIME  1991: Ted Turner TIME  1990: President George H.W. Bush TIME  1989: Mikhail Gorbachev TIME  1988: Endangered Earth TIME  1987: Mikhail Gorbachev TIME  1986: Corazon Aquino TIME  1985: Deng Xiaoping TIME  1984: Peter Ueberroth TIME  1983: President Ronald Reagan and Yuri Andropov TIME  1982: The Computer TIME  1981: Lech Wałęsa TIME  1980: President Ronald Reagan TIME  1979: Ayatollah Khomeini TIME  1978: Deng Xiaoping TIME  1977: Anwar Sadat TIME  1976: President Jimmy Carter TIME  1975: American Women TIME  1974: King Faisal TIME  1973: John Sirica TIME  1972: President Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger TIME  1971: President Richard Nixon TIME  1970: Willy Brandt TIME  1969: The Middle Americans TIME  1968: The Apollo 8 Astronauts TIME  1967: President Lyndon B. Johnson TIME  1966: Men and Women 25 and Under TIME  1965: William Westmoreland TIME  1964: Lyndon B. Johnson TIME  1963: Martin Luther King, Jr. TIME  1962: Pope John XXIII TIME  1961: President John F. Kennedy TIME  1960: U.S. Scientists TIME  1959: President Dwight D. Eisenhower TIME  1958: Charles de Gaulle TIME  1957: Nikita Khrushchev TIME  1956: The Hungarian Freedom Fighter TIME  1955: Harlow Curtice TIME  1954: John Foster Dulles TIME  1953: Konrad Adenauer TIME  1952: Queen Elizabeth II TIME  1951: Mohammad Mossadegh TIME  1950: The American Fighting Man TIME  1949: Winston Churchill TIME  1948: President Harry S. Truman TIME  1947: George Marshall TIME  1946: James F. Byrnes TIME  1945: President Harry S. Truman TIME  1944: Dwight D. Eisenhower TIME  1943: George Marshall TIME  1942: Joseph Stalin TIME  1941: President Franklin D. Roosevelt TIME  1940: Winston Churchill TIME  1939: Joseph Stalin TIME  1938: Adolf Hitler TIME  1937: Chiang Kai-shek and Soong May-ling TIME  1936: Wallis Simpson TIME  1935: Haile Selassie TIME  1934: President Franklin D. Roosevelt TIME  1933: Hugh S. Johnson TIME  1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt TIME  1931: Pierre Laval TIME  1930: Mahatma Gandhi TIME  1929: Owen D. Young TIME  1928: Walter Chrysler TIME  1927: Charles Lindbergh TIME ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] 2015 was Europe's most tumultuous year in recent memory. The gruesome terrorist attack targeted satirical newspaper Paris. And your bankruptcy of Greece spread in Europe's currency union. A massive influx of refugees overwhelm the continent. And as the year wound down, terrorists struck again in the city of light, killing at least 130 people and sowing fears of future attacks. Into that turmoil stepped German chancellor Angela Merkel. 2015 was her tenth year at the helm of Europe's largest economy. Few expected her to last that long. Born in Hamburg in 1954, Merkel grew up in the former East Germany, traveling only as widely as the confines of the Iron Curtain would allow. It wasn't until 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down, But Merkel left the world of physics to enter national politics at the age of 35. She rose quickly, becoming a member of Parliament, a government minister at 36. But it appears Tennet underestimated Merkel. [ FOREIGN ] Even after she was elected Germany's first female Chancellor in 2005. Here nickname in the German press soon became [ FOREIGN ] [ APPLAUSE ] For momma, a rise short hand for her motherly and moralizing style. But the events of this year showed Morty confronting every challenge. In January, massive crowds of right wing demonstrators protested Morty's openness towards migrants in the Muslim world. In response, Morty rallied side by side with Muslim leaders and By the summer, the left- wing government in Athens was on the verge of financial ruin. Desperate Greeks demanded debt relief, and Merkel became the target of their anger. But she didn't flinch. On her insistence, Greece was forced to accept even tougher terms for repayment stats To other European crisis [ FOREIGN ] a chance got her way. But the refugee crisis soon pose even a greater challenge. By August roughly a hundred thousand were arriving in Europe each month from Syria, Iraq and other conflict zones. Hungary and other states began to build fences and close borders That marked a turning point for Merkel. In early September, she made the bold decision to double down on her open door policy. [ FOREIGN ] Fatigue has set in fast. Some of Merkel's closest allies questioned whether their pragmatic chancellor had gone soft and sentimental. The Islamist terror attacks that struck Paris in November have not made it any easier Here, for [ UNKNOWN ] to preach compassion and inclusiveness. Throughout Europe Islamiphobia's on the rise, and yet talk of [ UNKNOWN ] political downfall proved to be premature. Across Europe and the world she's no longer seen as just a frugal and efficient manager, she now embodies Europe's ideals of openness and solidarity At a time when both were being severely tested. By viewing the refugees as victims to be rescued rather than invaders to be repelled. The woman raised behind the iron curtain and gambled on freedom. You can agree with her or no, but she's not taking the easy road. As she has shown in her dealings with debtor nations With Vladimir Putin's menacing ambitions, and now with the migrant crisis. Leadership is only hard when people don't want to follow. If we're asking more of our country than most politicians would dare, if we're standing firm against tyranny as well as expedience, and for providing ambitious moral leadership in a world where it is in short supply. Angela Merkel is Time's person of the year. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4142674/person-of-the-year-angela-merkel-tweets-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4142674/person-of-the-year-angela-merkel-tweets-donald-trump/"},"headline":"Here Are the Top Tweets About TIME's 2015 Person of the Year","datePublished":"2015-12-09T18:35:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-05T08:41:23.383Z","description":"Donald Trump slams choice of Angela Merkel as Person of the Year and more reactions to the choice","url":"https://time.com/4142674/person-of-the-year-angela-merkel-tweets-donald-trump/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Internet"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa498423f261e952/698874ad2dce01ffb69e6e08/donald-trump25.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa498423f261e952/698874ad2dce01ffb69e6e08/donald-trump25.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Donald Trump","creditText":"Andrew Harnik—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4142674/person-of-the-year-angela-merkel-tweets-donald-trump/","name":"Here Are the Top Tweets About TIME's 2015 Person of the Year"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Person of The Year 2015: Watch Angela Merkel's Year in Review","description":"Person of the year 2015: Watch Angela Merkel's Year in Review","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/CG7O6dnC/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-09T12:08:54.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/CG7O6dnC.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4142674/person-of-the-year-angela-merkel-tweets-donald-trump/","duration":"PT3M47S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4142674/person-of-the-year-angela-merkel-tweets-donald-trump/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```