Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, did not mince words as he criticized Time magazine for referring to Hillary Clinton as an “American Moses.”
On Wednesday, Time named president-elect Donald Trump as its Person of the Year “for reminding America that demagoguery feeds on despair and that truth is only as powerful as the trust in those who speak it, for empowering a hidden electorate by mainstreaming its furies and live-streaming its fears, and for framing tomorrow’s political culture by demolishing yesterday’s.”
The magazine also referred to Trump as a “huckster” and someone who “magnified the divisions of the present, inspiring new levels of anger and fear within his country.”
While hardly giving Trump honor, the magazine, in the same issue, called Clinton an “American Moses” and an “imperfect prophet” who led women near the Promised Land. Clinton was among those shortlisted for Person of the Year.
Graham did not agree with the magazine’s opinion about the former secretary of state and said Time should check the Bible.
“Hillary Clinton an American Moses?? Today TIME magazine named Donald J. Trump as their person of the year. And, oddly enough, they also called Hillary Clinton an ‘American Moses,’” Graham said on a post to Facebook.
Although Graham found the comparison a bit off, he indicated that the only thing about Moses that is comparable with Clinton was the fact that he led the Israelites in the wilderness for four decades.
“I find that a very interesting parallel,” he said. “Moses led the children of Israel to wander around in the wilderness for 40 years. I wonder if TIME was saying that if Hillary Clinton were elected, she would have led us into the wilderness?”
Trump was chosen from among a short list of candidates for Person of the Year, which included the Hackers, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Crispr pioneers and Beyonce.
Meanwhile, Twitter users called out the magazine’s editors for “intentionally” depicting president-elect Donald Trump with “devil horns.”
They referred to how the letter “M” from the magazine’s title fell right on top of Trump’s head, making it appear as though he had horns. They claimed the illustration was so obvious it was impossible for it to be unintentional.
“Given all of the sets of eyes that vet a prospective Time cover, the odds that those Devil Horns are accidental: 0%,” one Twitter user said.
Given all of the sets of eyes that vet a prospective Time cover, the odds that those Devil Horns are accidental: 0%. pic.twitter.com/jqGGs4wJRZ
— David Hobby (@strobist) December 8, 2016
As the idea caught on Twitter, more and more users began calling out the magazine’s editors for allowing the cover to be designed the way it was.
However, Time assured its readers that it did not purposefully position the letter M on top of Trump’s head and said it had happened before with other people featured on the magazine’s cover.
“Given the shape of the letter “m” in the magazine’s name and its location on the cover, many other subjects in the past have also appeared to sprout extra features,” Time said in a statement. “It’s happened to Hillary Clinton at least twice. It’s happened to Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, too.”
