🔗 Share this article

This is a glowing story in a publication that Donald Trump has long exalted – but for one catch. The cover picture, Trump declared, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time's paean to Donald Trump's part in mediating a ceasefire in Gaza, headlining its early November edition, was presented alongside a image of Trump captured from underneath while the sun shining from the back.

The outcome, he says, is ""terrible".

"Time Magazine wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the Worst of All Time", the president posted on his preferred network.

“My hair was erased, and then there was something floating my head that seemed like a hovering crown, but extremely small. Very odd! I have consistently disliked being captured from low angles, but this is a awful image, and it merits criticism. What are they doing, and why?”

Trump has made no secret of his desire to be pictured on Time magazine's front page and achieved this multiple times in the past year. This fixation has reached Trump’s golf clubs – previously, the magazine asked him to remove mocked up covers on display at several of his venues.

This issue's photograph was shot by a photographer for Bloomberg at the White House on the fifth of October.

The shot's viewpoint did no favours for his chin and neck area – a chance that the governor of California Newsom did not miss, with his communications team posting a modified photo with the offending area pixelated.

{The hostages from Israel detained in Gaza have been liberated under the opening part of Trump's ceasefire agreement, together with a freeing of Palestinian inmates. The arrangement may become a defining accomplishment of his next term, and it may represent a strategic turning point for the Middle East.

At the same time, a support for Trump's image has emerged from an unexpected source: the spokesperson at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs intervened to criticise the "self-incriminating" image choice.

It's amazing: a image reveals far more about those who chose it than about the person in it. Only sick people, people filled with spite and animosity –possibly even deviants – could have picked this picture", the official shared on her social channel.

Considering the favorable images of Biden that the same publication featured on the front, even with his age-related challenges, the situation is self-revealing for Time", she added.

The explanation for his queries – why did they choose this, and why? – might involve artistically representing a feeling of authority stated by Carly Earl, an Australian publication's photo editor.

The photograph technically is well-executed," she says. "They picked this image because they wanted trump to look commanding. Gazing upward gives a sense of their majesty and Trump’s face actually looks reflective and almost a bit ethereal. It's rare you see photos of Trump in such a calm instance – the picture feels tender."

The president's hair appears to “disappear” because the sunlight behind him has overexposed that part of the image, generating a radiant circle, she explains. And, while the story’s headline marries well with the president's look in the image, "you can’t always please the individual in question."

Nobody enjoys being shot from underneath, and although all of the conceptual elements of the image are very strong, the visual appeal are not flattering."

The news outlet approached the magazine for a statement.