🔗 Share this article

It is a positive story in a magazine that Trump has frequently admired – but for one catch. The front-page image, Trump declared, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time's tribute to Trump's role in facilitating a Gaza ceasefire, featured on its November 10 cover, was accompanied by a photo of Trump taken from below and with the sun positioned behind him.

The result, Trump claims, is ""terrible".

"Time Magazine wrote a quite favorable story about me, but the photo may be the lowest quality in history", Trump wrote on his preferred network.

“My hair was ‘disappeared’, and then there was something floating my head that appeared as a suspended diadem, but very tiny. Very odd! I have consistently disliked being captured from low angles, but this is a super bad image, and it should be denounced. Why did they choose this, and why?”

The president has expressed obvious his ambition to feature on Time magazine's front page and achieved this multiple times in the past year. The preoccupation has reached the president's resorts – previously, the editors demanded to remove fabricated front pages on display at some of his properties.

The latest edition’s photo was captured by a photographer for Bloomberg at the White House on 5 October.

The shot's viewpoint was unflattering to Trump’s chin and neck – an opening that California governor Newsom seized, with his press office posting a modified photo with the problematic part pixelated.

{The living Israeli hostages detained in Gaza have been released under the first phase of Trump's ceasefire agreement, in exchange for a release of Palestinian detainees. This agreement may become a defining accomplishment of the president's renewed tenure, and it could mark a pivotal moment for the Middle East.

Simultaneously, a defence of his portrayal has been offered by an unexpected source: the spokesperson at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs came forward to denounce the "damaging" picture decision.

It's amazing: a photo says more about those who chose it than about the subject. Only disturbed individuals, people filled with spite and animosity –maybe even degenerates – could have picked this picture", she shared on her social channel.

Considering the favorable images of President Biden that the periodical displayed on the cover, notwithstanding his health issues, the case is self-damaging for the publication", she said.

The explanation for his queries – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – may be something to do with creatively capturing a feeling of authority says Carly Earl, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

"The actual photo itself is professionally taken," she notes. "They selected this photo because they wanted the president to look impressive. Looking up at a person evokes a feeling of their grandeur and his expression actually looks reflective and almost somewhat divine. It’s not often you see pictures of him in such a calm instance – the image has a softness to it."

His hair appears to “disappear” because the light from behind has overexposed that part of the image, producing a glowing aura, she explains. Although the feature's heading pairs nicely with Trump’s expression in the image, "you can’t always please the subject matter."

"No one likes being captured from low angles, and although all of the thematic components of the image are very strong, the visual appeal are not complimentary."

The news outlet contacted Time magazine for feedback.