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It is a favorable article in a periodical that the president has frequently admired – but for one catch. The cover picture, he stated, "may be the Worst of All Time".

Time's paean to Trump's role in mediating a truce for Gaza, leading its 10 November issue, was paired with a photo of the president captured from underneath and with the sun positioned behind him.

The effect, Trump claims, is "super bad".

"Time Magazine wrote a quite favorable story about me, but the picture may be the most awful ever", he shared on Truth Social.

“They eliminated my hair, and then had an object hovering on top of my head that looked like a floating crown, but an remarkably little one. Truly strange! I never liked taking pictures from low perspectives, but this is a terrible picture, and merits public condemnation. Why did they do this, and why?”

Trump has made clear his wish to be pictured on Time’s cover and achieved this on four occasions in the previous year. The obsession has reached his golf courses – years ago, the editors demanded to remove fake issues shown in some of his properties.

The most recent cover image was captured by a photographer for a news agency at the White House on the fifth of October.

The perspective highlighted negatively his chin and neck area – an opportunity that California governor Newsom took advantage of, with his press office tweeting a version with the problematic part pixelated.

{The hostages from Israel held in Gaza have been released under the initial stage of the president's diplomatic initiative, together with a freeing of Palestinian inmates. This agreement may become a major success of his next term, and it may represent a strategic turning point for the Middle East.

Simultaneously, a support for Trump's image has come from a surprising origin: the communications chief at Moscow's diplomatic office stepped in to criticise the "revealing" image choice.

It's remarkable: a image reveals far more about those who chose it than about the person in it. Only disturbed individuals, people obsessed with malice and animosity –possibly even deviants – could have picked this picture", she shared on Telegram.

In light of the positive pictures of Biden that that magazine displayed on the cover, even with his age-related challenges, the story is simply self-incriminating for Time", she said.

The explanation for his queries – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – might involve artistically representing a feeling of authority says Carly Earl, a media professional.

"The actual photo itself is professionally taken," she notes. "They picked this image because they wanted trump to look commanding. Gazing upward gives a sense of their majesty and his expression actually looks thoughtful and almost a bit ethereal. It's uncommon you see pictures of him in such a calm instance – the image has a softness to it."

His hair seems to vanish because the light from behind has overexposed that part of the image, creating a halo effect, she says. Even though the feature's heading marries well with the president's look in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the subject matter."

Few people appreciate being photographed from below, and even if all of the conceptual elements of the image are very strong, the aesthetics are unflattering."

The publication approached the magazine for feedback.