Donald Trump clearly got the last laugh with Time and the mainstream media

Time announced Wednesday that President-elect Donald Trump was their 2016 "Person of the Year."

It's no surprise that Trump beat out the other leading candidates — including President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Beyonce, Simone Biles, Hillary Clinton and others — because of the political shockwave he sent across the United States and around the world.

But before Time made Trump their "Person of the Year" and before he became the president-elect, Time made a mockery of Trump and his ambition to become the 45th U.S. president.

In late August, when it looked like Clinton was beginning to run away with the presidency, Time ran a cover story with this design:

And after the New York Times dropped a report alleging that Trump hadn't paid income taxes in more than a decade, it appeared Clinton would continue pulling away. In between a couple presidential debates, another bombshell report broke, one that completely shook up the race for the White House.

In early October, the Washington Post published bombshell audio of Trump speaking extremely lewdly about women in 2005 with former "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush.

Those two incidents — Trump's taxes and lewd comments — made it appear that Clinton would have an easy path to the White House. That's when Time released this cover:

In fact, Time used a video to highlight the figurative change:

Then, in late October, FBI Director James Comey announced that his bureau was reopening its investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state. Suddenly, the damage the media had done to Trump was reversed, and it was Clinton trying to explain herself.

Less than two weeks later, Trump would surprise the world and be elected president, winning more than 300 Electoral College votes.

Now, after Time made a mockery of him, he's graced their cover as president-elect — and "person of the year."

Looks like Trump got the last laugh.