New York is well represented on Time magazine’s annual 100 Most Influential People list, with names like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Spike Lee, Gayle King, Lynn Nottage, Jennifer Hyman, Lady Gaga, Naomi Osaka and Glenn Close making the cut.
By Howard M. Riell
Heading the list of influential New Yorkers is, no surprise, President Donald Trump. Of him, Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, wrote: “Every modern U.S. President tries to influence the world. President Donald Trump has done this through opposing the NATO countries not paying their fair share, pushing China and our North American neighbors for fairer trade agreements and withdrawing from the Iran nuclear agreement. His boldest move in this direction is likely his personal efforts on the issue of North Korea. President Trump has, in fact, used the past year to place his imprint on a problem spanning more than six decades.
“Despite denuclearization agreements in 1992, 2005 and 2008, North Korea has become a nuclear power. President Trump decided to ramp up sanctions early in his tenure (which other Presidents have done) but decided to take a very different tack thereafter.
“In June 2018 President Trump broke with decades of U.S. policy and held a summit with North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un in Singapore. The President believes that only personal diplomacy can solve this crisis. The President’s supreme confidence in his own ability to persuade others to make a deal is now the basis for American denuclearization policy toward North Korea.
“President Trump deserves great credit for daring to try to personally persuade Chairman Kim to join the family of nations. This approach holds the possibility for history–making changes on the Korean Peninsula to make us all safer.”
Of Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Elizabeth Warren noted, “The year 2008 was a reckoning. While millions of Americans lost their livelihoods to Wall Street’s greed, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lost her dad to lung cancer, and her family fell off a financial cliff. She watched as our government bailed out Wall Street while it ignored families like hers. She learned the hard way that in America today, Washington protects the powerful while leaving hardworking people behind.
“Her commitment to putting power in the hands of the people is forged in fire. Coming from a family in crisis and graduating from school with a mountain of debt, she fought back against a rigged system and emerged as a fearless leader in a movement committed to demonstrating what an economy, a planet and a government that works for everyone should look like.
“A year ago, she was taking orders across a bar. Today, millions are taking cues from her. She reminds all of us that even while greed and corruption slow our progress, even while armies of lobbyists swarm Washington, in our democracy, true power still rests with the people. And she’s just getting started.”
