--- title: How Donald Trump Broke With the GOP Again description: President-elect Donald Trump is TIME's Person of the Year for 2016. His influence on the U.S. and the world dominated public discourse. canonical: https://time.com/4593570/how-donald-trump-broke-with-the-gop-again/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-07T17:34:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:11:03.422Z article:section: Politics og:title: How Donald Trump Broke With the GOP Again og:description: President-elect Donald Trump is TIME's Person of the Year for 2016. His influence on the U.S. and the world dominated public discourse. og:url: https://time.com/4593570/how-donald-trump-broke-with-the-gop-again/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Morning Must Reads og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Donald Trump Broke With the GOP Again twitter:description: President-elect Donald Trump is TIME's Person of the Year for 2016. His influence on the U.S. and the world dominated public discourse. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Donald Trump Broke With the GOP Again > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Dec 7, 2016 5:34 PM UTC  The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Dec 7, 2016 5:34 PM UTC _President-elect Donald Trump is TIME’s Person of the Year for 2016\. His influence on the U.S. and the world at large was unmatched, as he dominated the public discourse, the agenda and ultimately at the ballot box._ _As TIME Managing Editor Nancy Gibbs writes: “For reminding America that demagoguery feeds on despair and that truth is only as powerful as the trust in those who speak it, for empowering a hidden electorate by mainstreaming its furies and live-streaming its fears, and for framing tomorrow’s political culture by demolishing yesterday’s, Donald Trump is TIME’s 2016 Person of the Year.”_ In an interview with TIME last week at his Trump Tower penthouse triplex, the President-elect reiterated that he doesn’t believe that Russia was behind the hacks of the Democratic National Committee or of a top Clinton aide—and argued that the intelligence community blamed Vladimir Putin’s government for political reasons. Trump also endorsed the notion of fiscal stimulus, creating yet another break from congressional Republicans by saying that “sometimes you need to prime the pump” to get the economy going again. He also discussed his ambition to get Apple to open a U.S. manufacturing plant, what he thinks about President Obama and how his presidency should be judged. _Here are your must reads:_ **Must Reads** [PERSON OF THE YEAR: Donald Trump ](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/)President of the Divided States of America [Donald Trump on Russia, Advice from Barack Obama and How He Will Lead ](http://time.com/4591183/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump-interview/)He speaks to TIME [The Jury’s Out on Obama’s Terror Fight ](http://time.com/4592667/barack-obama-terrorism-speech-macdill/)His claim of success could collapse if there’s another 9/11-scale attack, TIME’s Mark Thompson writes [Bob Dole Worked Behind the Scenes on Trump-Taiwan Call ](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/06/us/politics/bob-dole-taiwan-lobby-trump.html?%5Fr=0)His firm took cash to boost ties \[New York Times\] **Sound Off** “I said to Tim Cook, it’s my ambition to get Apple to build a great plant, your biggest and your best, even if it’s only a foot by a foot bigger than some place in China.” — President-elect Donald Trump to TIME on bringing jobs back to the U.S. “I’m going to bring down drug prices. I don’t like what’s happened with drug prices.” — Trump to TIME **Bits and Bites** [Secret Service advertised as hot ‘new amenity’ at Trump Tower](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/trump-tower-secret-service-amenities-232216) \[Politico\] [VP Joe Biden On Running In 2020: Never Say Never](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoQzqQ9RUxs) \[YouTube\] [Pence talks up Trump having biggest mandate since Reagan](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/pence-heritage-foundation-regulatory-rollback-232286) \[Politico\] [Donald Trump to visit Ohio State attack victims, first responders](http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/12/06/Donald%5FTrump%5Fto%5Fmeet%5Fwith%5FOhio%5FState%5Fattack%5Fvictimsx%5Ffirst%5Fresponders.html#) \[Columbus Dispatch\] [Aide says Trump sold stocks in June, provides no evidence](https://www.apnews.com/43a0b1d7d96f47bd82936d936675ef69?utm%5Fcampaign=SocialFlow&utm%5Fsource=Twitter&utm%5Fmedium=AP%5FPolitics) \[Associated Press\] [Michelle Obama Breaks Her Silence About the Night Donald Trump Was Elected: ‘I Went to Bed’](http://people.com/politics/michelle-obama-donald-trump-election-night/) \[People\] [Donald Trump picks Gen. John Kelly for Department of Homeland Security secretary](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-gen-john-kelly-dhs-secretary-department-homeland-security) \[CBS\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4593570/how-donald-trump-broke-with-the-gop-again/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4593570/how-donald-trump-broke-with-the-gop-again/"},"headline":"How Donald Trump Broke With the GOP Again","datePublished":"2016-12-07T17:34:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:11:03.422Z","description":"Morning Must Reads: December 7","url":"https://time.com/4593570/how-donald-trump-broke-with-the-gop-again/","keywords":["Morning Must Reads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Morning Must Reads","caption":"Capitol","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","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":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4593570/how-donald-trump-broke-with-the-gop-again/","name":"How Donald Trump Broke With the GOP Again"}}]}] ```