It would be unfair to say that People magazine has been totally soft on US President Donald Trump.
Recall that it was People that published an account of its former reporter, Natasha Stoynoff, who wrote in October that Trump pushed her against a wall and kissed her without consent 11 years earlier. Trump denied Stoynoff’s claim.
Yet when Trump won the presidential election in November, less than a month after Stoynoff went public, People ran a cover that quite literally depicted the victorious billionaire in a glowing light.
Now, however, People is out with a much tougher cover that accuses the Trump family of “Secrets & Lies”. The contrast between the cover of the new issue and one that featured the future first family in October 2015 (At home with the Trumps!) is truly striking.
The latest cover also takes a very different tone from that of an April 2016 issue, which suggested that the “real” Trump might be kinder than his coarse exterior would indicate. An accompanying article captured some of Trump’s poorer qualities - he commented on a female reporter’s physical appearance, for example - but the cover made him look pretty good.
Thus, People’s decision to hit Trump on the front of the magazine marks a notable shift.