Time magazine’s new inauguration-issue cover features Donald Trump briskly clearing President Biden’s belongings from the desk in the Oval Office with his arm, sending Biden’s signature aviator sunglasses flying.
The illustrated cover is the fourth for the magazine by artist Tim O’Brien, who has previously depicted Trump either seated at or floating above the famous resolute desk in a sequential series using ever-rising water levels as a metaphor for chaos or tumult in his first presidential term.
The initial cover in the series was published in February 2017, a month after Trump’s first inauguration, accompanied by the text, “Nothing to See Here.”
It shows Trump seated, his fingers steepled, as a rain storm rolls in causing his tie and flaxen locks to wave forcibly in the wind.
The second cover was published in April 2018 with the one-word caption “Stormy” and was released amid news of his alleged consensual 2006 affair with adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, a k a Stormy Daniels, and her subsequent payoff by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.
The image is virtually identical to the first cover except it shows the water level has crept above the top of the resolute desk.
Less than six months later, in September 2018, the third in the series depicted Trump floating out of frame as the Oval Office is shown completely filled with water. The words “In Deep” accompanied the image.
The magazine previewed the new cover in a post on X on Sunday, touting its cover story entitled “Donald Trump’s Disruption is back.”
The article calls the incoming 47th commander-in-chief “an unpredictable force for change” and concedes, “Whatever one thinks of him, he has altered America in ways unimaginable a decade ago.”
The cover art itself is something of a Rorschach test. Those who view Trump favorably have seemed to interpret the cover as a declaration of out with the old, in with the new as the Oval Office changes hands.
“The adults are in charge now,” a Trump supporter wrote in response to Time’s post.
Another peron said, “Now then, let’s get down to business. There’s a huge mess to clean up.”
But Trump haters interpreted the image as depicting him as an agent of chaos, haphazardly doing away with the status quo and norms of previous administrations.
“Here comes the chaos,” wrote one anxious X user.
Another person seethed, “One day these TIME covers will be looked at how Soviet propaganda is looked at today, absolutely despicable!”
In December, the magazine named Trump its annual “Person of the Year” — drawing swift condemnation from readers who supported Vice President Kamala Harris in the election a few weeks earlier.
Read the full article here