--- title: Watch Donald Trump Dodge a Bald Eagle description: The Person of the Year runner-up encounters the American symbol canonical: https://time.com/4141783/time-person-of-the-year-runner-up-donald-trump-eagle-gif/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-09T11:37:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:40:19.894Z og:title: Watch Donald Trump Dodge a Bald Eagle og:description: The Person of the Year runner-up encounters the American symbol og:url: https://time.com/4141783/time-person-of-the-year-runner-up-donald-trump-eagle-gif/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde683896348244fe/698874800b72e372186e7309/donald-trump-bald-eagle-attack.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2640 og:image:height: 1485 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Eagle Attack og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Donald Trump Dodge a Bald Eagle twitter:description: The Person of the Year runner-up encounters the American symbol twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde683896348244fe/698874800b72e372186e7309/donald-trump-bald-eagle-attack.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Donald Trump Dodge a Bald Eagle > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=8be29e6f-7a9b-4cc7-9928-83c489841023&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch Donald Trump Dodge a Bald Eagle [Watch (HLS stream): Watch Donald Trump Dodge a Bald Eagle](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5CcEYNNO.m3u8) (1:00)  _Published 2015-12-08. Last August, as Person of the Year runner-up Donald Trump was establishing himself as a real contender, the candidate agreed to pose with a bald eagle for a TIME cover story._ by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Dec 9, 2015 11:37 AM UTC Last August, as Person of the Year runner-up Donald Trump was establishing himself as a real contender, the candidate agreed to pose with a bald eagle for a TIME cover story. by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Dec 9, 2015 11:37 AM UTC Last August, as [Person of the Year runner-up](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-runner-up-donald-trump/) Donald Trump was establishing himself as a real contender, the candidate agreed to pose with a bald eagle for a TIME [cover story](http://time.com/trump/). The idea came from Martin Schoeller, the award-winning portrait photographer and frequent TIME contributor who [shot the cover](http://time.com/4003904/donald-trump-bald-eagle/). The eagle’s name, for the record, is Uncle Sam, and he’s 27 years old. .  GIF by Mia Tramz for TIME ## Transcript [00:00] You're going to go faster. [00:01] Yeah. [00:09] How's my Aaron? [00:09] Oh, good. [00:10] No, no, no, no. [00:14] And that. It's [00:21] almost done here at the great part, Right. [00:23] Which is a very, very, [00:27] you know, [00:28] show the spirit of his as a really [00:36] generous. [00:38] Yeah, We're not doing it again, [00:41] obviously, but something. [00:42] I'm doing this on the cover of Time magazine. [00:44] I love Time magazine. [00:46] What you will do for a cover. 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