🔗 Share this article

This is a glowing article in a publication that Donald Trump has consistently praised – but for one catch. The front-page image, the president decreed, ""could be the worst ever".

Time magazine's praise to Trump's role in brokering a Gaza ceasefire, featured on its November 10 cover, was paired with a photograph of the president captured from underneath while the sun shining from the back.

The outcome, the president asserts, is ""terrible".

"Time Magazine wrote a fairly positive story about me, but the photo may be the most awful ever", Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“They removed my hair, and then had a shape drifting on top of my head that appeared as a hovering tiara, but an very tiny one. Really weird! I never liked taking pictures from low perspectives, but this is a terrible picture, and merits public condemnation. What are they doing, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown clear his wish to appear on Time’s cover and achieved this on four occasions in the previous year. The obsession has made it as far as his golf courses – previously, the editors demanded to remove mocked up covers on display at several of his venues.

The latest edition’s photo was taken by Graeme Sloane for Bloomberg at the White House on October 5.

The perspective highlighted negatively his chin and neck area – an opening that California governor Newsom took advantage of, with the governor's office posting a modified photo with the problematic part obscured.

{The living Israeli hostages in Gaza have been released under the opening part of Donald Trump's peace plan, together with a Palestinian prisoner release. This agreement might turn into a signature achievement of Trump's second term, and it could mark a key shift for the Middle East.

Simultaneously, a support for the president’s appearance has been offered by a surprising origin: the communications chief at the Russian foreign ministry came forward to criticise the "revealing" photo selection.

It's remarkable: a photograph says more about those who chose it than about the person in it. Just unwell persons, people driven by hatred and resentment –possibly even deviants – could have chosen such a photo", she posted on the messaging platform.

Considering the favorable images of Biden that the periodical displayed on the cover, despite his physical infirmity, the situation is self-revealing for Time", she added.

The response to Trump’s questions – what did the editors intend, and why? – could be related to innovatively depicting a feeling of authority stated by a picture editor, an Australian publication's photo editor.

The image itself is professionally taken," she explains. "They picked this image because they wanted trump to look commanding. Gazing upward creates an impression of their grandeur and his expression actually looks contemplative and almost a bit ethereal. It’s not often you see images of the president in such a peaceful state – the picture feels tender."

Trump’s hair appears to “disappear” because the rear illumination has washed out that area of the image, producing a glowing aura, she says. Although the story’s headline pairs nicely with the president's look in the image, "you can’t always please the subject matter."

"No one likes being captured from low angles, and although all of the conceptual elements of the image are very strong, the aesthetics are not flattering."

The news outlet approached the magazine for feedback.