Greta Thunberg’s Time Magazine Person of the Year award criticized by Trump

Olivia Frey, Reporter|December 17, 2019

Pablo Blazquez Dominguez & Mark Wilson via Getty Images

Greta Thunberg is named Time Magazine’s 2019 Person of the Year as Trump keeps his comments on Twitter.

Time Magazine named “Person of the Year” to Greta Thunberg, the sixteen year old climate activist, but President Trump’s response raised eyebrows.

According to Time, Thunberg was born and raised in Sweden. She has been trying to make a difference since August 2018, when she skipped school and spent her days camping out on the Swedesh Parliament stairs with a hand painted sign saying “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (school strike for climate).

Since then, Thunberg has sparked a global movement: in the sixteen months that she’s been advocating for change, she’s spoken at the UN, met with the Pope, and inspired 4 million people to join a worldwide climate strike on September 20, the largest climate strike to this date. 

Despite the overwhelming support for Thunberg, Trump is holding a grudge against her and isn’t afraid to show it. Last Thursday, Trump put her on blast by tweeting the following: “Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend!” “Chill Greta, Chill!”

In retaliation, Thunburg fired back by changing  her Twitter bio to: “A teenager working on her anger management problem. Currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend.”

Other influential women, like Michelle Obama, showed their support for Thunberg’s campaign. Michelle tweeted the following @ Greta: “Don’t let anyone dim your light. Like the girls I’ve met in Vietnam and all over the world, you have so much to offer us all. Ignore the doubters and know that millions of people are cheering you on.”

This isn’t the first time he’s tweeted about her. Earlier this fall, Trump sarcastically tweeted “She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future; so nice to see!” criticizing her UN speech, which criticized lawmakers for standing by and expecting the youth to solve the climate problem.

Thunberg is inspiring young women and people who want to make a difference around the world by raising awareness on the climate change issue. With her campaign, she hopes to inspire more average civilians and convince people with high positions of power to make a change as well. As for what she wants to do following these events, she said that she plans to continue to attend climate strikes weekly.