Surprise Future Chief Executive Bests Former Presumed President-Elect Hillary Clinton, Roger Ailes, Rudy Giuliani, Ryan Lochte, Creepy Clowns and Other Dubious Achievers
Extremely “Bigly” News Also Heralds the Triumphant Return of ‘Dubious Achievement Awards’ to Esquire After An Eight-Year Hiatus
Having been swept into the highest office in the land on November 8, President-Elect Donald Trump reached another pinnacle of achievement today, when it was announced by the editors of Esquire that he had been elected to the prestigious, hard-won title of “Dubious Man of the Year.”
The Dubious Achievement Awards (“an annual celebration of mendacity, mediocrity, and moronic behavior”) first appeared in Esquire in January 1962 as “a salute to those many whom the rest of us owe so little.” They ran in the magazine until 2008, when they were accidentally left behind in the coat room at Elaine’s restaurant for eight years.
“It was a crowded field,” said Jay Fielden, editor-in-chief of Esquire. “But very early in the running the rest of the year’s bad hombres – blue-haired prevaricator Ryan Lochte, greedy extortionist Martin Shkreli and all those creepy clowns hanging around schoolyards with hockey sticks – fell away and it was clear who was going to be the winner whichever way the Presidency went. Not since Richard Nixon became the annual patron saint of these awards in 1963 have we seen such a worthy and unanimous winner. We congratulate President-Elect Donald J. Trump, his family and his entire team on this historic effort, which almost transcends last week’s, in our opinion.“
December/January issue of Esquire Magazine (PRNewsFoto/Esquire)
In addition to the high honor accorded to Mr. Trump, the 2016 Dubious Achievement Awards in the new December/January issue are bestowed upon a host of other figures who have defined the outer limits of acceptable behavior during the calendar year, including Chappaqua resident Hillary Clinton, Libertarian spoiler and weed broker Gary Johnson, previously disgraced and upcoming Presidential advisor Roger Ailes, Blind Bill Cosby, and anyone who played Pokémon Go.
“When it comes to truly dubious figures, Donald Trump has stood hair and shoulders above everyone this year,” said Esquire Contributing Editor David Hirshey, who piloted the renewed awards this month as well as during the dubious heyday of Michael Jackson, O.J. Simpson and George W. Bush. “Without his contribution, it would have been a relatively normal year of stupidity and greed, but our ‘Dubious Man of the Year‘ elevated his game to a level so spectacularly dubious that it may have actually swept him into the Oval Office. We really had no choice but to award him this accolade for which he has so clearly been preparing for his entire adult life.”
Esquire is the most-honored monthly magazine in America, with 26 National Magazine Awards, including one for its iPad app, and 88 nominations. In its digital expressions, Esquire.com has an audience of 11.3 million (comScore, Sept. 2016), and a social media following of 2 million. In addition to its U.S. flagship, Esquire publishes 26 editions around the world. Esquire is published by Hearst Magazines, a unit of Hearst, one of the nation’s largest diversified media and information companies. Hearst Magazines‘ print and digital assets collectively reach more than 128 million readers and site visitors each month, or 53 percent of all adults in the U.S.; nearly two-thirds of all women and 69 percent of all millennial women (source: comScore/MRI 9-16/S16).
The December/January issue hits newsstands on November 22.
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