President-elect Donald Trump just can’t stop winning. On Thursday he will ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange as he’s confirmed TIME Magazine’s “Person of the Year.”
Trump is expected to be on Wall Street to mark the ceremonial start of the day’s trading, according to four people with knowledge of his plans, in a gesture first performed by fellow Republican President Ronald Reagan back in the mid-1980s.AP reports.
The born-and-bred New Yorker’s stock exchange appearance and TIME award were disclosed to the outlet by people not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Breitbart News had earlier reported on the singular honor.
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) December 11, 2024
Trump was named the magazine’s Person of the Year in 2016, when he was first elected to the White House.
He had already been listed as a finalist for this year’s award alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, X owner Elon Musk, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Kate, the Princess of Wales, the AP report notes.
The ringing of the bell has been a powerful symbol of U.S. capitalism since the 1880s and despite his decades as a New York businessman, Trump has never done it before.
The first guest to do it was a 10-year-old boy named Leonard Ross, in 1956, who won a quiz show answering questions about the stock market.
President Ronald Reagan performed the signal honor back in the mid-1980s.
Adopting the jargon of Wall Street, where a bear market declines and a bull market rises, Reagan said back then if Congress adopts the tax overhaul and budget restraints he wants, “our economy will be free to expand to its full potential, driving the bears back into permanent hibernation.
File/Original Caption/ New York: President Reagan addresses crowd of traders and runners assembled on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 28, 1985. “We’re bullish on the American economy,” he said. It was the first time an American President visited the NYSE while in office. (GETTY)
“That’s our economic program for the next four years,” Reagan said. “We’re going to turn the bull loose.”
The stock exchange regularly invites celebrities and business leaders to participate in the ceremonial opening and closing of trading. During Trump’s first term, his wife, Melania Trump, rang the bell to promote her “Be Best” initiative on children’s well-being.
Last year, TIME CEO Jessica Sibley rang the opening bell to unveil the magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year: Taylor Swift.
The Associated Press contributed to this story
