🔗 Share this article

It is a positive article in a periodical that Trump has frequently admired – with one exception. The front-page image, Trump declared, "may be the Worst of All Time".

Time's tribute to Donald Trump's part in facilitating a ceasefire in Gaza, headlining its early November edition, was paired with a photo of Trump captured from underneath and with the sun shining from the back.

The outcome, Trump claims, is ""extremely poor".

"The publication wrote a fairly positive story about me, but the picture may be the lowest quality in history", Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“They removed my hair, and then had a shape drifting on top of my head that appeared as a suspended coronet, but an remarkably little one. Really weird! I consistently avoided taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a extremely poor picture, and merits public condemnation. What is their intention, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown no secret of his desire to be pictured on Time magazine's front page and did so multiple times in the past year. The obsession has made it as far as his golf courses – previously, the magazine asked him to remove fake issues exhibited in some of his properties.

The most recent cover image was captured by Graeme Sloane for Bloomberg at the White House on October 5.

The perspective was unflattering to the president's jawline and throat – an opportunity that the governor of California Gavin Newsom took advantage of, with his communications team posting a modified photo with the problematic part blurred.

{The living Israeli hostages detained in Gaza have been freed under the first phase of Donald Trump's peace plan, together with a release of Palestinian detainees. This agreement could be a major success of his next term, and it may represent a strategic turning point for that part of the world.

At the same time, a defence of the president’s appearance has been offered by an unexpected source: the communications chief at Moscow's diplomatic office came forward to criticise the "damaging" image choice.

"It’s astonishing: a photograph says more about those who chose it than about the individual pictured. Just unwell persons, people filled with spite and resentment –maybe even degenerates – could have selected such an image", the official posted on her social channel.

"And given the complimentary photos of Biden that the periodical used on the cover, notwithstanding his health issues, the case is self-damaging for Time", she said.

The answer to Trump’s questions – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – may be something to do with innovatively depicting a impression of strength stated by a picture editor, an Australian publication's photo editor.

"The actual photo itself is professionally taken," she notes. "They chose this shot because they wanted the president to look heroic. Staring up at someone creates an impression of their majesty and his expression actually looks contemplative and almost slightly angelic. It’s not often you see pictures of him in such a serene moment – the picture feels tender."

His hair looks erased because the rear illumination has overexposed that part of the image, creating a halo effect, she explains. Even though the story’s headline pairs nicely with his facial expression in the image, "you can’t always please the subject matter."

Nobody enjoys being captured from low angles, and although all of the artistic aspects of the image are highly effective, the appearance are not flattering."

The news outlet contacted Time magazine for a statement.