The Worst People of 2019
Before 2019 comes to a close, let’s take one last look at the most obnoxious, appalling, and insidious personalities of the past twelve months. These are eight auld acquaintances we’d desperately like to forget — here’s hoping we’ve heard the last of them.
Americans for Prosperity Foundation chairman and Koch Industries executive vice president David H. Koch gives a thumbs-up November 4, 2011 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla / Getty
If Jacobin had our own Person of the Year, like Time magazine does, we’d probably choose someone like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Sara Nelson, though Time’s recognition of Greta Thunberg was also nice to see. But enough positivity! Let’s talk about 2019’s worst people, those of whom we fervently hope we’ve seen the last, each a cancer on the body politic in their own unique way.
Current heads of state like Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, and Narendra Modi deserve inclusion, as does Boris Johnson, but they are disqualified since there’s no possibility of them exiting our lives quickly, although the Brazilian president was hospitalized after a fall over Christmas, so that’s a start. Cheeringly, we heard precious little this year from some of the people who made 2017 and 2018 so awful, like Nazi Richard Spencer, hipster-fascist Milo Yiannopoulos, and far-right mall predator Roy Moore, so at least we know we can dream.
Here are some people we hope will vanish from the public sphere for good in 2020.
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