WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 16:  U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he leaves the Capitol after he attended a House Republican Conference meeting November 16, 2017 in Washington, DC. President Trump travels to Capitol Hill to discuss the tax reform bill as the House prepare to vote on the bill today.  (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Trump: 'Pass' on TIME's person of the year
01:13 - Source: CNN

Editor’s Note: Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM radio’s daily program “The Dean Obeidallah Show” and a columnist for The Daily Beast. Follow him @deanofcomedy. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

Story highlights

Dean Obeidallah: It would be a mistake for Time not to declare that Trump is "Person of the Year"

Obeidallah: What's more impressive than tweeting, coming up with nicknames, and golfing--all while running a country?

CNN  — 

Twitter exploded Friday night and into Saturday after Donald Trump alleged that he was offered Time magazine’s title of “Person of the Year” and Time responded by challenging the President’s account of events.

Trump tweeted that the magazine wanted him “to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot” before confirming he had won the award. Trump would have none of that, tweeting: “I said probably is no good and took a pass.”

A short time later, however, Time responded on Twitter by challenging Trump’s account, “The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year. Time does not comment on our choice until publication, which is December 6.”

Hey, let’s stop debating whether Time magazine formally offered this honor to Trump or not and get to the real issue. Time magazine executives, if you are reading this, Trump deserves to be “Person of the Year.” Hell, Trump should get person of the decade, maybe even the millennium. And I say that as someone who has been a very (very) vocal critic of Trump.

You see, Trump is doing something as president that we have not seen in the modern era – if ever. Most presidents seemingly work non-stop on the business of running the government. It’s an acutely intense and stressful job which no doubt explains why presidents age so dramatically in office. But Trump doesn’t just work at the business of government – he does so, so much more.

First, there’s Trump’s tweeting. On average, Trump tweets six to seven times a day. We are talking over 2,000 tweets since he has been sworn in! And with Twitter now expanding its character limit from 140 characters to 280, that means going forward Trump has double the workload.

Plus, Trump just doesn’t simply tweet and go back to focusing on policies like the GOP tax cut bill. No, he takes the time and effort to engage (aka fight) with people on Twitter. Be it calling out the commissioner of the NFL because he has “lost control” of the players who take a knee during the national anthem or calling LaVar Ball, the father of a UCLA basketball player recently released by China after alleged shoplifting, an “ungrateful fool” who is “a poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair.”

Additionally, Trump has even exhausted his brain power to come up with nicknames for people he’s slamming on Twitter. Who can forget “rocket man” for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, “Frankenstien” (sic) for Democratic Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, or “Flake(y)” for GOP Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona? We didn’t see President Barack Obama making that kind of effort on Twitter!

Then there’s all the traveling Trump has done since being sworn in – he may actually be setting a record. And I don’t just mean for his trips to Asia or the Middle East. Out of the 309 days Trump has been President, he has visited Trump-owned properties on 102 of them. And 81 of those days have been at Trump golf properties.

Trump has even eclipsed President Obama in one objective metric: number of rounds of golf at this point in his presidency. You see, by November of his first term, Obama had played golf 24 times. What about Trump in that same time frame? At least 35 times – so take that, Obama!

And if that weren’t demanding enough, Trump also somehow finds time to watch Fox News and even live tweet about some of the programs. Simply put: This man is a miracle.

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If Time magazine makes a huge mistake by not declaring Trump “Person of the Year,” then I hope Trump does more than lash out on Twitter. Trump should mimic what he did in the past and commission fake covers of Time magazine that depict him on the cover.

And Mr. President, if you are reading this, please don’t let the mainstream media executives tell you that you don’t deserve a special award. You do. Anyone can work 24/7 on running the government, but you, sir, do so much more – from mocking people on Twitter with your uniquely coined nicknames to playing rounds and rounds of golf at taxpayers’ expense to spending time at your private country club(s) to watching Fox News. That’s why you absolutely must be the 2017 “Person of the Year.”